Trump’s puzzling authoritarianism
It would be silly to say that authoritarianism is uniquely American, but there is a 21st century expression of it that is more common there than here in Europe. “Laying down the law” is something that a lot of people in America seem to like to do and like to see being done. Having straddled both worlds I’ve come to appreciate this. In Britain particularly, bellicose threats and pronouncements of legal consequences are more chuckled at with a kind of world-weary amusement than anything else.
Maybe this is due to our ancestral dealing with that Hitler feller. Maybe it comes from Victorian times when we took ourselves way too seriously. I don’t know. But it might also explain why evangelical preachers don’t carry the same cachet here as they do there.
So when Trump recently threatened the European Union with 50% tariffs, I don’t think he inspired the awe, terror and admiration he imagined. Trump went on “Truth” Social and bleated that, because Europe is “taking advantage of the United States on trade” and not coming to the table to, metaphorically speaking, bend the knee, “Therefore I am recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025.”
Notice he doesn’t say he’s announcing an immediate tariff. You can tell he relishes telling the EU (of which, unfortunately, Britain is no longer a member) that he is going to levy tariffs with immediate effect. To the American ear, pronouncing a particular date has a more “official” and therefore scarier sound to it, and is relished by Trump and people like him all the more on that account.
Our European neighbours will largely receive it with the same contempt it deserves. To be sure, it’s bad news for some businesses and consumers and I don’t mean to be insensitive to that. But Trump’s threats simply don’t thrill us. The view from over here is of a clown, an idiot, a horse’s ass (or arse). Few are impressed with this inarticulate, woolly-brained buffoon.
But then, many Americans agree. A British immigration lawyer friend recently told me that applications for British citizenship are starting to flood in. The same is true in Canada. A lot of Americans don’t want to be Americans any more. Trump and his loony, heavy authoritarian hand has ruined the place for him.
Tourism from Europe to the United States is down by 10%. The decline is even more pronounced for Canadian travellers, with flights between Canada and the US during May to July down a staggering 33 percent. All thanks to Trump.
Anyway, if you want to come live in Britain and can afford to do so and have the necessary qualifications you’re welcome here. We’ve got room and sympathy for you. Canada has even more room. You will quickly discover that many of the things that used to make America special are no longer true. And healthcare over here is a dream. No one goes bankrupt with medical bills.
If you’re bound to America by the inexorable pull of circumstances, you also have our sympathies. Hang in there, Trump will be gone one day. I think America will eventually heal from Trump. Heal from the heel, if you’ll pardon the pun.
Unfortunately, and puzzlingly, the whining, befuddled, preposterous man-baby Trump is still popular with enough Americans to keep him in power. Republicans in Congress are afraid of him. When America finally recovers from Trump, Europe will welcome you back. Until then, we will have dealings with him for the same reason we have dealings with the law of gravitation. But we hate him.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.