Renouncing aid and the EU, Starmer sucked up to Trump

Most people I know were concerned about the prospect of a second Trump presidency; but we did not have a vote. However, those Republicans who elected him should have been mindful of the old Chinese proverb: be careful what you wish for.

- William Keegan

A classic example has been provided recently in the columns of the New York Times. On 17 December, the rightwing columnist Bret Stephens wrote: "Here's a thought for Trump's perennial critics, including us on the right. Let's enter the new year ... by dropping the lurid comparisons to past dictators, by not sounding paranoid about... the ever-looming end of democracy." However, by 20 February, with Trump, JD Vance and Elon Musk already giving full vent to their planned revolution, Mr Stephens was quoting what Joseph Goebbels wrote in April 1928, about five years before Hitler's ascent to power: "We enter the Reichstag to arm ourselves with democracy's weapons...

If democracy is foolish... enough...that is its problem. It does not concern us. Any way of bringing about the revolution is fine by us." There is plenty to be concerned about, on far too many fronts.

The US has to live with the monster it elected; but, unfortunately, so do the rest of us, not least the millions in less fortunate countries who have been dependent on US foreign aid, and the more developed economies that are rightly concerned about the potential impact of Trump's devotion to tariff wars.