Donald Trump is not a patient man. Even his inaugural address lasted for only 16 minutes. Still, the message was clear enough: ‘The time for empty talk is over. Now arrives the hour of action.’ The slow-burning chit-chat of the Washington elite is the stuff of the past, a hangover of the ‘American carnage’ that came to an end last Friday. In fact, to save time altogether, Trump could have simply condensed his address into a single tweet: Americans are as mad as hell and they aren’t going to wait anymore!
Brexit voters will know what he means. They, too, are tired of playing the waiting game. A few weeks back, when Sir Ivan Rogers revealed that a UK-EU trade deal could take a decade to finalise, several prominent Brexiteers went into a tailspin. His crime was temporisation. His resignation, which followed soon after, was welcomed as a sign that things were full steam ahead.
The populist wave sweeping western democracies is being fuelled by this impatience.
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 £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in