Donald Trump: Why the world needs US President to lose to Joe Biden next month – Scotsman comment

There are many who compare Boris Johnson to Donald Trump.

Defeat for Donald Trump in the US election would encourage Boris Johnson to put some distance between his brand of politics and the President's (Picture: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

Most do so out of fear the Prime Minister is becoming like the US President, and not without some justification. The attempt to illegally prorogue parliament to help force through his Brexit bill last year and the Internal Market Bill’s threat to break international law are both straight out of the populist playbook followed by Trump and other like-minded leaders around the world for whom democracy and the rule of law are obstacles to be overcome.

Trump himself has talked up the idea, claiming that people in this country call Johnson “Britain Trump” which, disregarding arguments about adjectival nouns, sounds ungrammatical and just not the sort of phrase that anyone would actually say. Not that the truth has ever much concerned the US President; in July, the Washington Post’s fact-checker column reported he had made more than 20,000 false and misleading claims since assuming office.

‘NHS has saved my life’

Having been sacked twice for dishonesty, Johnson too has form in this respect but nothing like Trump’s. And there are moments that show just how different the two men are.

After apparently recovering from a mild form of Covid-19 following hospital treatment, Trump tweeted: “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.” He then put his staff at risk of infection so he could wave to his supporters from a hermetically sealed car. And now he has explained why he thinks he survived, telling Fox Business: “I’m back because I am perfect physical specimen and I'm extremely young.”

In contrast, Johnson, whose condition was much more serious, said “the NHS has saved my life, no question”. He was effusive in his praise for health service staff saying they "kept putting themselves in harm's way, kept risking this deadly virus". “It is thanks to that courage, that devotion, that duty and that love that our NHS has been unbeatable,” he added.

A supporter at a 2008 presidential election campaign rally told John McCain that she could not trust Barack Obama, saying he was 'an Arab'. 'No, ma’am,' McCain replied. 'He’s a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues.' In contrast, Trump promoted the racist 'Birther' conspiracy theory that Obama was not born in America (Picture: Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)

His message showed the kind of leadership we need during this crisis: Covid is a deadly threat and we must all take seriously. It’s the same message you will get from public health experts the world over.

An uber-arrogant buffoon

Trump’s suggestion the disease is nothing much to worry about was as patently ridiculous as his claim to be a “perfect physical specimen”. From anyone else, this might have been taken as a joke but this is the same person who, in all seriousness, declared himself to be a “very stable genius”, claimed to have a natural talent for virology, and suggested Covid patients could be treated by injecting disinfectant, which would be a gruesome way to kill them.

In his mind, he is clearly some kind of superman. In reality, he is a clinically obese, uber-arrogant buffoon.

Hopefully, next month’s US election will result in his departure from the White House, an event that will be welcomed by true Republicans forced to pay lip-service to their leader while quietly hoping to return the party to the values of the late Senator John McCain.

Victory for Joe Biden would also turn Trump into a loser and that fact alone could encourage Johnson and others around the world to put some much-needed political distance between them and the US President’s unpleasant and dishonourable electoral tactics, his racism and sexism, his lies, and his profound immorality.

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