First of all, to give him (limited) credit, Hannan didn’t praise Trump. Of course not: Hannan’s ludicrously deluded shtick is that Brexit had nothing to do with nativism & anti-globalisation. For him, leaving the EU is about returning to the Garden of Eden...
..Hannan wants to restore an imaginary Golden Age where peace-loving Britain straddled the world, its admiring & diverse nations opening up their markets not because of gunboats or colonial ruthlessness but because EVERYBODY LOVES FREE TRADE!!! Returning to his Trump article-
...sustaining his delusion about Brexit requires Hannan to believe that Trump, with his petulant racist & protectionist outbursts, is the polar opposite of Brexit (and not the American manifestation of the same phenomenon)...
...Hannan’s article begins with his trademark smug, gratuitous, self-congratulatory digs against Remainers & with this buffoonish prediction: “All I’ll say is this: if Trump can defy the pundits in the United States, then so can, say, Marine Le Pen in France.” Anyway...
Anyway, back to Hannan’s main deluded argument: “both [Trump & Brexit] drew on a certain anger against political elites but Britain’s Leave campaign was not nativist or protectionist.”😂😂 Then it gets better as he offers up a slew of self-owning predictions about Trump...
“What will the Trump Presidency mean for Britain? One obvious difference between the 44th president & the 45th is that, whereas Obama threatened to put Britain at the back of a queue for a trade deal, Trump says we’ll be at the front. This is encouraging” 😂😂😂 There’s more👇
“Behind all his rhetoric about Mexicans and Muslims, Trump offered surprisingly conventional conservative economic policies, based around lowering, flattening and simplifying taxes. America would certainly benefit from his anti-corporatism.” Wait, it gets better😂👇
“The US President doesn’t have the powers of the President of Ukraine or Uganda.😵He’s constrained by the legislative & judicial arms of govt. Although House/Senate under Republican control, plenty of Republican legislators make no secret of their dislike of the Donald.”😂
“There is, as it were, an anti-Trump Congressional majority.😂😂
He evidently grasps this. 😂😂His victory speech was conciliatory😂😂, not only toward Hillary, whom he thanked effusively for her service😂😂, but also toward Republican leaders😂😂.” Oh Dan, so many bad takes!
“He warmly name-checked Paul Ryan, & passed the microphone to only one other person: Reince Priebus, who chairs the Republican National Committee. He is, in other words, reaching out to his new party.”😂😂 stop it, Daniel - you realise this is going to come back to haunt you?
“Most Republicans have reciprocated. Fewer Democrats have. Trump’s newfound moderation has been answered by a torrent of abuse.” Yeah, Daniel- looking back, that’s definitely where Trump’s Presidency started to go wrong: it’s the Dems’ fault. (/s) #DanielHannan #BadTake
“The New Yorker told readers that this was how fascism began. In this regard, at least, there is a parallel with the Brexit vote: the vitriol poured out by people who, lacking self-awareness, thought of themselves as fair-minded liberals, served only to boost the other side.”
“This really shouldn’t need saying, but analogies with fascism are idiotic. The United States has just carried out a free election, in which power was smoothly transferred without anyone being exiled or shot.”
#DanielHannan #BadTake #BrexitMeansTrump 👇
Hannan continues with his customary know-nothing blind optimism: “President Trump will be constrained in office, not least by the possibility of impeachment if he goes too far. His Vice-President, Mike Pence, is a good and humble man, in politics for all the right reasons.”👇
Foreign policy is the one area where Hannan is less sure that the sound instincts of the Republican Party & the resilience of the US’s democratic institutions will keep President-elect Trump in check. He does see some potential dangers. But don’t worry...!👇
..Global Britain will ride to the rescue & use its influence to keep Trump in check!😩 “Britain, a country which Donald Trump says he loves, may have a more important task than ever in working with the United States on the world stage.” What is Hannan’s overall conclusion?👇
Concluding, Hannan repeats his trick of pretending to go forward in time & tells us Trump is going to turn out just fine: “nothing in politics is as good or as bad as it first seems. America is the world’s greatest republic. That will be just as true four years from now.”