Friday, July 13, 2018

The Simple Truth


Boris Johnson has let it be known that he admires Donald Trump. And Donald Trump has returned the compliment. William Davies writes in The New York Times:

“I am increasingly admiring of Donald Trump. I have become more and more convinced that there is method in his madness.” These comments, subsequently leaked, were made last month by Boris Johnson, who was then Britain’s foreign secretary. Never one to discount praise, Mr. Trump reportedly expressed an interest in meeting his “friend” Mr. Johnson during his visit to London this week, noting that Mr. Johnson has been “very, very nice to me, very supportive.”

Yesterday, while trashing the way Theresa May had handled the Brexit negotiations, he also let it be known that Johnson would make a "great" prime minister. What the bromance between Trump and Johnson really illustrates, Davies writes, is "the rise of radical incompetence:"

One way to understand the rise of reactionary populism today is as the revenge of sovereignty on government. This is not simply a backlash after decades of globalization, but against the form of political power that facilitated it, which is technocratic, multilateral and increasingly divorced from local identities.    
A common thread linking “hard” Brexiteers to nationalists across the globe is that they resent the very idea of governing as a complex, modern, fact-based set of activities that requires technical expertise and permanent officials. Soon after entering the White House as President Trump’s chief strategist, Steve Bannon expressed hope that the newly appointed cabinet would achieve the “deconstruction of the administrative state.” In Europe, the European Commission — which has copious governmental capacity, but scant sovereignty — is an obvious target for nationalists such as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary.
The more extreme fringes of British conservatism have now reached the point that American conservatives first arrived at during the Clinton administration: They are seeking to undermine the very possibility of workable government. For hard-liners such as Jacob Rees-Mogg, it is an article of faith that Britain’s Treasury Department, the Bank of England and Downing Street itself are now conspiring to deny Britain its sovereignty. It is thought that Mr. Davis’s real grudge was with the unelected official, Olly Robbins, who had usurped him in his influence over the Brexit process. The problem was that Mr. Robbins is willing and able to do the laborious and intellectually demanding policy work that Brexit will require, while Mr. Davis is famously not.
What happens if sections of the news media, the political classes and the public insist that only sovereignty matters and that the complexities of governing are a lie invented by liberal elites? For one thing, it gives rise to celebrity populists, personified by Mr. Trump, whose inability to engage patiently or intelligently with policy issues makes it possible to sustain the fantasy that governing is simple. What Mr. Johnson terms the “method” in Mr. Trump’s “madness” is a refusal to listen to inconvenient evidence, of the sort provided by officials and experts.  

That disdain for evidence produces oxymoronic thinking -- some would call it simply moronic thinking. And the end result is a cascade of exits. The simple truth is, you can't govern if everyone is leaving.

Image: BT.com

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I recall us having a leader who wasn't interested in evidence of the sort provided by officials and experts. His name was Stephen Harper.

While voters eventually gave him the toe, Ontarians still haven't learned to ignore politicians offering tax cuts and easy fixes for complex problems.

Cap

Owen Gray said...

That's exactly what's depressing about the recent Ontario election, Cap. Despite ten years of Stephen Harrper, it would appear that a good segment of the province's voters -- not a majority, but enough to win a majority government -- haven't learned a thing.

The Mound of Sound said...


I hate to beat the drum but neoliberalism has succeeded in driving a wedge between and ultimately alienating the populace from their political caste. We see it everywhere, including in Canada, when governments, having surrendered critical aspects of national sovereignty, have lost the will or the ability to respond to the issues of the day that concern the general public.

Brexit was a referendum on a question the voting public could not hope to understand. That much is evident in the confusion that now deeply divides May's own government into irreconcilable factions. They can forge no deal with Europe and so May instead cherry picks results she wants, a bespoke partial Brexit that Europe can never and will never abide.

We watched through the entire Obama administration how the Republicans worked to ensure the federal government was unworkable. That led to Trump. Now it's the Tories who are subverting their own government. That is how democracy fails.

Toby said...

Owen, while reading your post I have this troubling remembrance of the horrors in Cambodia a few years ago. It seems that the Gullibillies and troglodytes rise up periodically and slaughter those they view as privileged. The French Revolution and subsequent reign of terror was another example. We may be in for much more trouble than ignorant tweets and asinine speeches.

Owen Gray said...

We are looking at governments which ensure that failure is the only option, Mound. I read today that the Ford government has not only nixed the windfarm where I live, but it has also nixed 758 renewable energy projects. We really are intent on doing ourselves in.

Owen Gray said...

I fear you may be right, Toby. There is no unwritten rule that a revolution is rooted in wisdom.