If the president’s first term didn’t inoculate the American body politic against tyranny, there is no guarantee that a second dose will work
D
onald Trump is a despot and the US is a democracy. These things can be true simultaneously but not indefinitely. There is now deadlock in the struggle between a president who would be king and a constitution drafted in repudiation of monarchy. But it is a battle to the death. Tyranny will either break the spirit of the republic or be quelled by it.
Since the US is the world’s paramount power, the outcome of this contest has epic consequences for countries, such as the UK, that depend on Washington for security.
Trump’s spiteful denigrations of Keir Starmer and other European leaders for their reluctance to join the bombing of Iran demonstrate the impossibility of partial alignment with a leader who wants total submission. The US president’s only recognised source of authority is himself. When asked earlier this year if there is anything that might constrain his actions around the world, he said: “My own morality, my own mind.”
