Oh dear. I’ve always admired Jonathan Freedland, and he usually writes so well about America. But his latest contribution to the Donald Trump debate is dreadful. It is a Guardian video — the format doesn’t help — called ‘Dear America, this Donald Trump thing? It’s not just about you.’ In it, Freedland warns the US that the rest of the world will be very, very worried if Donald Trump is the Republican Party nominee. Watch and try not to cringe:
Surely, as a clever man, Freedland realises that such progressive special pleading is what fuels the Donald Trump phenomenon? It is so deeply patronising. Come on America, the Guardian is saying, you did so well when you elected Barack Obama. ‘Then the world was inspired,’ says Freedland. ‘Now we are scared.’
But the point is that Americans did vote for Obama — and look where it got them.
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