At the time, everyone else seemed to be sneering. The British right-wing press, I seem to recall, described his first inauguration in 2017 with disdain. As for the left-liberal establishment, an astonishing tide of hatred and contempt poured out – in the US, the UK, and around the globe. I wrote in his defence a couple of times, or at least criticised his detractors.
Then, during Trump's second term, much of the British Right seemed to become belated fans. Even mildly leftist institutions like the BBC started to give him a modicum of respect. I initially continued to feel positive about Mr Trump, though there were early warning signs when he first spoke aggressively about Greenland. I let it pass: with Trump, it isn't always clear what's serious and what's posturing. He still seemed to be heroically trying to tackle major problems where others would have faffed about ineffectually. It's true that he hasn't, apparently, made much progress with the Ukraine situation, but at least he's been trying.
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More recently, however, it has become clearer that we are dealing with a loose cannon who is potentially dangerous for global stability. Swooping in and imprisoning, or killing, the leaders of countries you don't like – when they haven't attacked you or even threatened attack in a meaningful way – is an approach that has now been used twice by the USA, apparently at President Trump's behest.Who is Trump going to have assassinated next? The Prime Minister of Cuba? The President of Nigeria? How can we be sure it won't be someone closer to home? What if his disapproval of Keir Starmer rises to high enough levels?
The Iran situation is disturbingly reminiscent of 2003 and the Iraq War. At least in that case, there had been a prior act of aggression against America (9/11) – though the link between al-Qaeda and Iraq was tenuous.
One 'blessing' in this case is that there's no rationalising dodgy dossier that subsequently has to be exposed as dishonest. Here it's clear from the start that the would-be supporting arguments are hollow.
It's not just that the war against Iran isn't justified, and that it's the action of an aggressor rather than a defender. It's that Trump is taking an enormous risk. He is risking not just American security and American lives, but the security of America's allies. It might all pay off, or it might not. There may be all sorts of negative consequences in the pipeline. It has, for example, been suggested that Trump's actions are making it easier for the Chinese to annex Taiwan. It's going to be harder to make China feel guilty about its expansionism, after what the West has been up to.
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To understand the Trump phenomenon we have to go back to 2016. Culturally and intellectually, the 'liberal' hegemony reigned supreme. The extent to which il-liberal elites had suppressed dissident viewpoints could be gauged from polls prior to the US election and the Brexit referendum. Tests of voting intentions gave little sign of the seismic shifts about to unfold, instead implying that Trump and Leave were unlikely outcomes. Evidence that even when merely questioned by pollsters, people were afraid to speak their mind if they disagreed with the wisdom of the bien pensants.Trump's first presidency was marked by vehement opposition and protests. Ironically, his critics accused him of being anti-democratic. By denouncing someone who had been legitimately elected and actively campaigning against him, it is they who were being anti-democratic.
Mr Trump has shaken up a complacent intellectual establishment. It's hard to imagine who else could have done it. His bombast and political dumbing-down may have offended middle-class sensibilities, but without those qualities it's unlikely he could have stood up to a seemingly endless barrage of leftist vitriol. (For that reason, it could be argued that Trump is actually a product of leftist hegemony.)
It's not just that intellectual elites have become smug and complacent; they have become overly powerful. Academic and journalistic elites have, in effect, colluded to suppress alternative viewpoints. What they have been defending is a set of beliefs which arguably suits their own interests.
A few elements of academia are now finally acknowledging that university bias has gone too far and that it's time to take serious action. Speaking to the Chronicle of Higher Education, David Brooks – the New York Times's token conservative, who has now been recruited by Yale to help address the problem – says of Trump that he
is never 100 percent wrong. There's always some kernel of truth to his attacks. The problem is that he overreacts. It's like going to a doctor with acne and the doctor says, "You know what will fix acne? Decapitation." That's Trump.But if Trump (and Vance) hadn't 'overreacted', would we now have public acknowledgement that there's a serious bias issue? Chances are, we would be getting (at best) a bit of mealy-mouthed debate, with everything subsequently going on much as it has been.
Perhaps it takes the threat of 'decapitation' to get anything to happen. Even so, it's doubtful that Western academia is going to make a major shift away from its il-liberal consensus any time soon. The fact that Brooks says that a motive for reform is because we need "a fair and just society" suggests that even conservative academics are still hopelessly bedazzled by the hubristic fantasy that academia's job is to come up with 'correct' ethical solutions. But at least Trump's full-frontal attack has got people talking more openly about the problem.
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Donald Trump has been necessary for the sake of pluralism, and we should be grateful to him. Now let us look forward to the end of Mr Trump's presidency. And let us hope his successor is someone with as much courage to confront ideological monopoly, but less desire to stir up the geopolitical landscape.With luck, President Trump's legacy will be that he revived genuine conservatism, and hence political and ideological pluralism – not that he started World War Three.
