It’s hard to overstate just how shocking, how grotesque and shaming, was President Trump’s outburst against Ukraine’s President Zelensky in the Oval Office. Pop went the last soap-bubble of hope any of us had that US diplomatic policy for the next four years would cleave to anything other than the mad king’s personal whims and grievances.
“Goodies and baddies” is exactly how liberal democracies do see the world
The personal stuff – the petulance and bullying – is priced in with Donald Trump. But the wider drift of what’s happening is, in a way, more alarming. Historians and international policy experts seem to agree that we’re at an inflection point: the chapter is closing on the “Western alliance”, Nato and the so-called “rules-based international order” guaranteed by American power; in its place we’re returning to the primordial condition of great-power competition, spheres of influence, and colonial exploitation.
Trump’s pash on Russian power looks psychological rather than strategic, and it would be funny if it wasn’t so horrifying: in Michael Wolff’s new book All Or Nothing he makes the passing observation that Trump’s worldview is stuck in 1965.
Get Britain's best politics newsletters
Register to get The Spectator's insight and opinion straight to your inbox. You can then read two free articles each week.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in