A Yankee Businessman in the White House
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SPECTATOR AUSTRALIA third-party. They need a John Howard to say, ‘Don’t slit your own throats, guys.’ A Yankee businessman in Trump fails to treat the Washington think tank intellectuals like Ming Dynas- ty vases in a Met showcase. They are in the White House shock at his lack of esteem for their glit- ter. Not being in awe of think tank intel- Those who have the most to fear from Trump may well be the lectuals is Trump’s sin and his wisdom. media and celebrity elites Any innocent can see, for instance, that US North Korea policy has failed. ROSS TERRILL Most foreign policy gurus insist Kim Jong-un must choose between his nuke program and survival of his regime. But Kim chooses both and laughs at Wash- ington. Year after year the foreign poli- cy gurus beg Beijing to ‘help’, and they urge more talks - to talk about more talks. ’m a child of the Westminster sys- them effect. Carter did not. Trump has Many Americans might favor the risk of a tem.’ For decades living in Boston some. Clinton does too, though most are new NK policy from outsider Trump. ‘Ithis was my defence when American vacuous (‘Are You With Her?’ ‘Better The cultural gate-keepers think reporters asked for a comment on US pol- Together’). Presidential leadership does banner ideas like ‘China Cheats’ are itics. Impeach Nixon? Well, in Australia not resemble cooking, arranging policy simple-minded. Guess what? Ordinary we just schedule an election. All straight- ingredients in a pan and lighting the gas. Americans, not awed by a Ming vase, forward – or it used to be. Today, It seems Rather it is bus-driving, as traffic surpris- understand and like banner ideas. Wise Westminster parliamentary sovereignty and es, roads are uneven, and half the job is men say Mexico will explode in Ameri- the American system’s division into three not to get hit. can faces if Trump stops illegal Hispanic powers are merging, in a tawdry triumph of One pities both Clinton and Trump, immigration, and China will start a war if media, money, and celebrity. as a nearly two-year campaign requires Trump re-negotiates economic deals with One may start with McMahon’s knif- the media to place a microscope over their Beijing. It is far more likely that Mexico ing of Gorton. Then Thatcher’s remov- existence 24/7. Hillary is called ‘inauthen- and China will compromise with Trump to al by Major and Keating’s assault on tic’. Trump is ‘a buffoon’. But those two US benefit. ‘Make America Great Again’ Hawke (two star PMs shot from the sky). propositions aren’t on the ballot. FDR is not aggressive. It’s a bargaining stance. Even American journalists and academ- and Churchill would never be elected in Take a deep breath, let the process ics caught up to the new reality with the 2016. Nor LBJ (too crude) and Kennedy continue, wait for the voters to speak. Rudd-Gillard revolving door. Still, Turn- (a philanderer). More worrisome, vot- Paul Sheehan more than a decade ago bull’s swift silent replacement of Abbot ers are diminished when journalists and claimed newspapers and TV were com- was barely noted. plutocrats adjudicate an election months peting against our democratic system. All these sharp leadership changes before the vote. James Fallows (on the He was correct and before his time. The occurred in the party room; electors were left) and Ross Douthard (on the right) media have eroded the Westminster sys- never consulted. So a child of Westmin- said flat-out that Trump could not be the tem and bored the American public into ster must stop boasting of parliamenta- Republican nominee. It is not just that disrespect. In this fresh era, give me ry sovereignty and learn patience with these bright bulbs were wrong, but such the local, the original; give me Trump’s American primaries, fixed presidential ex cathedra, advance pronouncements bluntness over Clinton’s well-oiled politi- terms, and judges-as-gods. However, I short-circuit democracy. cal machine. In private Trump is calm, cannot accept the absurd length of Amer- The Left is up the wrong tree in its not angry. His chief, novel weapon is to ican campaigns or the mind-boggling role horror at Trump’s rude thrusts against thumb his nose at Political Correctness. in them of money-bags. academics and news folk. Pew surveys ‘In political activity,’ the British phi- Today we see a culmination of the show both circles are largely despised by losopher Michael Oakshott said, ‘men sail merging process in Trump-versus-Clin- the American people. Trump lives and a boundless and bottomless sea; there is ton. You would think the Republican breathes from the barbs against him by neither harbour for shelter nor floor for nominee is already an Oval Office fail- reporters, professors and legal gods. As anchorage, neither starting-place nor ure, to read the New York Times and the the Chinese would say, Trump’s critics appointed destination.’ Washington Post. It’s a monstrous jump- pick up a stone only to drop it on their Let’s eschew panic and see limits, ing of the gun by left-wing media, joined own foot. Conservative foreign poli- as well as hope, in presidential and also inscrutably by fragile flowers on the right cy gurus have announced they will not prime ministerial leadership. Oakeshott who cower at Trump’s candor. The same serve under Trump. Who invited them was correct to prescribe a mild dose of geniuses who said Trump could not be to? These cultural gate-keepers in think apathy. If most Americans cared pas- nominated now, with nary a blink, declare tanks and the magazines Weekly Stand- sionately about politics, the nation would his presidency a failure. ard and National Review have done more be torn apart before and after elections. Yet a person elected to the White damage to themselves with their negativ- Much the same goes for Australia. Hap- House seldom does much of what was ism about the Republican nominee than pily, both peoples prefer sports, fami- promised during the campaign. This is Trump has done to the RNC and Repub- ly, work, arts, and religion, to politics as sometimes necessary and goes deeper licans in Congress. entertainment. This is a conservative view than ‘broken promises’. The same folk who jumped on of politics, quite consonant with a busi- What endures from campaign trail Trump last year for not ruling out a third nessman in the White House. to White House are simple ideas and the party run, should he lose the Republican will to stick with them. Reagan had a few primaries, now, with Trump the winner by Ross Terrill’s next book will be ‘Mao as basic principles plus the courage to give historic margins, themselves cry out for a a Boy’ x the spectator australia | 16 july 2016 | www.spectator.co.uk/australia.