Britain’s Trump Becomes Prime Minister

Image courtesy of BackBoris 2012 Campaign Team Flickr page - Boris Johnson in Tooting: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53797600@N04/6849919890/in/photolist-briCx5-e4TsXz-29Y2aU7-22qJSt-bCHbSz-bEdzdz-ryETiA-jxMso6-jxNxZx-jxQAL3-jxPvMA-9oTK3U-cCdaXW-jxMoSi-bxYVvz-4KDYDW-brijRG-bEdAD6-6YkuXB-jxPxM7-e4TsT6-briiuu-brijzY-briiWh-dL8u88-W5yxy2-britm3-ankx5V-d5SU6E-dZBqxf-briGnd-6YyCoZ-4Lpqgd-d7zcd3-d7ZFVC-gJrZ7N-brivYf-anoe73-4NDN9N-jxzuPx-d7ZfvL-bpNfKy-dG5Gm9-ankp26-Ka35St-dstzyG-e4Yfwu-d7yKeN-d7ZFr5-q32Xi8
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Ah, yes. It fits with these times we are living in, does it not?  

Some of the strangest political shake-ups in recent history have happened in the United States and in Great Britain. Perhaps the first was the Brexit vote, where many around the world were shocked when the Pro-Brexit vote won in 2016, even though polls repeatedly had shown that a majority of British people were opposed. But the weather had been terrible, and apparently, that was enough to dissuade some people from showing up to what proved to be one of the biggest and most controversial elections in that country’s history. The ramifications are still being felt today, three years later.  

Later that year, in the United States, many around the world were even more stunned when eccentric and unstable billionaire Donald Trump won the presidency. Many had dismissed him as a joke (including yours truly, admittedly) when he took to a blatantly racist message right from the moment when he announced his candidacy. Yet, he took an early lead, and then intimidated other Republicans into not attacking him by utilizing all of his resources to try and embarrass anyone who dared criticize him. It worked, and he became the Republican nominee. Then, he defeated the favored Hillary Clinton in the general election to win the White House. The ramifications are still being felt today, nearly three years after Trump won that election.  

Now, Great Britain has elected their own version of Donald Trump. Boris Johnson even looks quite a bit like Trump, except that his hair is a little more natural looking. But they both have big mouths and rather extreme personas and points of view. Johnson had been hugely in favor of Brexit, and there was a chance of him becoming Prime Minister back then, but he turned it down. But after several failed attempts by recently departed Prime Minister Theresa May, Johnson is promising to take a stronger, harder approach towards the European Union (EU), and to leave the EU  

Johnson is promising his version of Trump’s  MAGA (“Make America Great Again”). This one is called DUDE, and it stands for the following:  

Deliver Brexit  

Unite the Country  

Defeat Jeremy Corbyn  

Energise  

Johnson mused that his detractors had forgotten the final letter “E,” and had pointed out that the acronym spelled out “Dud.” But he tried to be clear on his points, suggesting that he was going to bring quality broadband to every home, bring more police, better education, and allowing the country to take pride in itself again, and not be self-defeating, which he claimed it was being for too long now.  There will be a “new spirit of “Can Do,” and this, he promised, will deliver a Brexit by October 31st of this year that the United Kingdom can be proud of.  

Here is a very recent tweet, where Johnson pointed in the direction that he believes he will be bringing Britain now that he has become the leader:

Boris Johnson Verified account @BorisJohnson Follow @BorisJohnson  More  It’s time to get to work to deliver Brexit by 31st October, unite the party, defeat Jeremy Corbyn - and energise our country!  Join us 👉 http://conservatives.com/join       

Well, let’s see.  

To his credit, Johnson does not sound nearly as moronic as Donald Trump does, even though many Americans seem to associate him as the British Trump, like I did earlier. Not sure that I agree with his politics, but he certainly can speak a lot more impressively than Trump can, and again, he does not come off as nearly as arrogant or idiotic. He does sound like a politician, of course, but again, he is not nearly as bad as Trump.  

Still, this seems to be Britain reinforcing it’s anti-European, Pro-Brexit stance, even though, supposedly, the majority of British people have reservations regarding it. Also, the Brexit proceedings have been absolutely disastrous to this point. Johnson is promising better results.  

Again, let’s see what happens.                                   

Like Trump, Johnson has done some very odd things in his past, as well. Things that perhaps could  be regarded as bizarre publicity stunts, but which also could be seen as conduct unbecoming someone who is, frankly, a world leader now. This man hoisted himself over his city of London, back when he was the mayor. He seems to have emotional outbursts every now and then, although admittedly, he is nowhere near in the league of his peer in the White House, who really takes the cake for any adult leader that I know of when it comes to childish temper tantrums.              

Still, Johnson seems to remind everyone of Trump. He is known as the British Trump for a reason, after all. And the similarities are rather eerie, truth be told. It goes beyond the hair, although that is the first thing that immediately pops into mind regarding reminders of Trump. There was a picture posted by my mom on her Facebook page that took a playful jab at them, showing Trump and Johnson together as the twins from “The Shining” movie, both with long, blond wigs, and holding hands. They are kind of creepy in that way, and their somewhat coincidental emergence as Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the leaders of the two nations which, politically, the rest of the world believes are voluntarily self-destructing, is, again, quite eerie.               

Like Trump, many seem to dismiss Johnson as an incompetent. Again, I personally believe Trump to be far more politically incompetent than Johnson, in terms of just having no clue how stupid and backwards he appears to anybody who is not a blind supporter. But Johnson, like Trump, apparently has his charms, at least to those who consider themselves supporters. He is very unorthodox, with those strange publicity stunts, from walking around with a broom, to being hoisted above the city of London and waving British flags, to riding a bike with movie stars.              

Johnson, however, was not quite the political outsider that Trump was prior to 2016. He had been a politician for quite a while, and had done some of those strange things which some would dismiss as antics, surely, in order to gain a higher profile. Perhaps it reduced his credibility and competence in the eyes of some, but it also clearly attracted others to him, much like Trump’s antics did for him, as well.              

Very strange. But is it really any stranger than an American “leader” who never failed to try and capitalize on photo ops with beautiful models, and who got into professional wrestling antics, and makes a point of putting out ridiculous, almost laughable tweets of historic levels of idiocy? Not really. This seems to be the new political reality these days, and it is apparently spreading. My guess is that while it may have begun here in the United States, and has now spread to Brazil and Great Britain, we will see similarly farcical characters winning elections and becoming official heads of state. I wish it were otherwise, but the world seems to have mistaken affairs of state with entertainment. I fear that people will only learn that those two should be kept strictly separate when it is already too late, because my guess is that we are not heading towards a great and admirable place.              

These kinds of extremist movements and parties are enjoying some serious momentum at the moment. Maybe Trump, Bolnosaro, and Johnson are the ones who have provided some serious shock value, but there are others who are getting closer to doing the same in other nation, as well. Extremist parties are all the rage in Europe among disenfranchised people. There is a very far-right wing government in Hungary right now, which is no longer even considered a true democracy. And in Poland, there is a strong split politically between those who support the Law and Order party that is in power there presently, and which has very friendly relations with the current American president, even trying to appease him by opening a military base that would take the name Fort Trump.                

What times we are living in.