Donald Trump’s visit can reunite a divided Britain
And now for the good news. In Britain almost nothing other than the EU referendum and related events has got a look in recently. That means that the worsening difficulties of Donald Trump’s campaign to become President have gone almost unnoticed on this side of the Atlantic.
The golf-obsessed poltroon who lands in the UK on Friday is, I am delighted to report, well and truly in the soup. Trump is struggling to raise money and trailing in the polls with worse negatives than Jeremy Corbyn crossed with Ken Livingstone.
It is possible, of course, that Trump will once again defy the normal rules of presidential elections, by winning in November without access to a large pool of funds required to pay for television adverts and an on the ground operation in key states. It is possible, but highly unlikely.
Again, perhaps Trump will tap his own fortune – which is of indeterminate size – to pay for his run. It is also possible that the Republican Establishment is holding off allowing donors to turn on the funding taps, until he has agreed to submit himself to their control. According to this theory, he’ll have a sensible Vice President pick imposed on him and the Donald will thereafter play nicely. This sounds to me like wishful thinking. Trump seems incapable of playing nicely. While he is far from stupid, he is a tinpot trainee demagogue and a ridiculous narcissist.
Trump can be of great service to Britain, however, in its hour of need. This country is bitterly divided after the EU referendum campaign. There are three distinct camps. There are the avowed Brexiteers who hope the Westminster/media/City gut-instinct that Remain will win pretty clearly turns out to be wrong. Then there are the Remainers, who are finishing the campaign strongly but doing so aware that really – with the polls so unreliable – no-one knows anything. In the middle are millions of moderate voters who just want it all to be over soon one way or the other so they can go on holiday and forget about it.
In such a climate, Trump can play the role of healer, not by saying anything sensible when he arrives in Britain this week to visit his Scottish golf course. Instead, he can play the role of unintentional unifier by giving Britons something to coalesce around, namely agreeing on the awfulness of Donald Trump.
Fewer than a dozen Britons are thought to approve of the idea of Trump becoming President. That grouping includes several senior Ukip backers; an aide to Nigel Farage with anger issues; three bloggers, and a man called Reg in Lincolnshire who went on holiday to a Trump-branded resort in Florida and will explain to anyone prepared to listen to him down his local pub that when Trump says that Trump Steaks are the best steaks in the world he is a man of his word.
Other than that, all sensible Remainers, Leavers and British civilians are implacably opposed to Trump. It is a rare point of agreement, and his visit is a chance for the country to come together.