The current mess across the pond

[jducoeur]

For those who are interested in developments in Britain (which is having arguably its most "interesting" week since WWII), I commend the Guardian's liveblog, which I've been following all week:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/series/politics-live-with-andrew-sparrow

What's been striking me today is that nobody seems to be clearly calling out quite how closely Boris is following Trump's playbook. Many folks pointed out that it was insane for him to remove 21 MPs from the Conservative Party, eliminating his already-thin majority, just before an election. But most of those MPs will probably (I suspect) stand down instead of running as independents or in another party, so there won't be incumbents fighting against the new Tories who will be nominated.

So basically, the Tory Party as it was known until last month is being purged, with anyone who doesn't like the new authoritarian approach driven out and replaced by yes-men who will follow the new, relatively fascist party line. Which sounds really familiar.

Of course, the Tories may lose the upcoming election (whenever it happens), and Boris will then look like a moron. But given that Corbyn is arguably even less popular than he is, and given current polling numbers, odds are the Tories will still come out on top...

Comments

[sporky_rat]

I'm impressed by the Guardian's ability to keep up.

[cvirtue]

"nobody seems to be clearly calling out quite how closely Boris is following Trump's playbook."

Probably part of the mindset that doesn't want to call Trump's breaks-with-reality "lies."
Also if the parallels are drawn by non-British sources, it would be insulting.

[elusiveat]

I dunno. I have the feeling Johnson is doing what he's been doing by having a thorough understanding of his country's constitution. Trump doesn't seem to understand our constitution at all and to the extent that he has been successful, I think it's mostly through emotional manipulation and media know-how.

[jducoeur]

My impression is that Johnson is mostly following Cummings' advice, and Cummings neither knows the British constitution as well as he thinks, nor gives a damn. They may yet win out by sheer bull-headedness (and the advantage that the British constitution is squishy and ill-defined), but that's the only thing they have going for them -- in general, they're being legally outflanked by folks who understand it way better than they do.

Really, I think they expected the Tories to roll over for them much the same way the Republicans did for Trump, and they're still figuring out how to deal with the fact that they're hitting slightly stronger-than-expected headwinds, and a populace that isn't quite as dumb and complacent as they'd been counting on. I honestly have no idea how it's going to play out over the next twelve weeks, which will be critical for British history...