How should sensible conservatives and small-c conservatives view the prospect of Donald Trump being in the White House for the next four years?
My friends who fall into this category are jubilant. One of them told me that tears of joy ran down his face as he watched the new President’s inauguration speech on Monday.
When Donald absurdly claimed, in reference to the attempt on his life last July, that he had been “saved by God to make America great again,” the tears on my friend’s face became a torrent. He is a 72-year-old man and a British patriot.
I think his reaction, although strange, is quite representative of the sentiment on the right. I’ve lost count of the number of articles by conservative columnists whom I respect that suggest Trump is some kind of savior.
Well, I don’t like to be a party pooper, but forgive me if I don’t join in. Aside from the fact that Trump is an absolutely horrible man, many of his policies, if carried out, will harm Britain and the rest of the world. West.
That doesn’t mean he doesn’t enjoy the bewilderment of those on the left who consider him the devil. It was impossible not to laugh, for example, when, after his election victory in November, the editor of The Guardian newspaper wrote to his distraught staff offering advice.
I can sympathize with those on the right who admire Trump for his war on the world of work. I was inwardly glad when he stated during his inauguration speech that there are only two genders, unlike the approximately 70 that are taught to children in some of our schools.
Trump is right to attack illegal immigration, if only our own political leaders were so determined! – although I don’t think it is humane, and surely not legal, to deport the children of illegal immigrants who came to the United States years ago.
Donald Trump delivers his inauguration speech in Washington on Monday
While I don’t share the new president’s rejection of the theory of man-made climate change, I don’t see why the United States shouldn’t drill and frack. We’re going to need a lot of your gas to keep the lights on here, especially as the short-sighted Ed Miliband has banned further exploration in the North Sea.
Donald Trump’s pragmatism will protect the American economy, while our own ideologically driven government will strangle our own in its mad dash to net zero.
So, yes, it is refreshing to see Trump defy the woke articles of faith with an enthusiasm that only Nigel Farage can muster among this country’s political leaders.
But the other side of the book – the harmful things it proposes to do – is long. Unfortunately, many, if not most, people on the right seem oblivious or unaware, probably because they are delighted by his woke attack.
This is the essence of the point. Trump may not have a coherent political philosophy, but he is a revolutionary by nature. If there’s one thing conservatives don’t like, it’s revolutions, even if the original conservatives were practically outlaws who lived in 16th century Ireland.
Consider Trump’s pardon of more than 1,500 people charged with the riots and invasion of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Quite possibly some of those charged received disproportionately harsh sentences. However, among those pardoned there are some very tough nuts who deserved their long terms.
What happened at the Capitol was not a tea party. It was a violent insurrection, encouraged by Donald Trump, for whose act alone he should never be forgiven. More than 170 police officers were injured, one of whom died the next day. Four other people died as a result of the riots.

Trump has now raised the possibility of new sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s regime in Russia.
As I say, Trump is a revolutionary, so it’s no surprise to see him fomenting an uprising and then forgiving those who participated in it. The Parisians who stormed the Bastille at the beginning of the French Revolution would have recognized a kindred spirit.
Aren’t people on the right supposed to believe in law and order and are generally quick to criticize politicians who don’t uphold that principle? Yet once again, Trump is largely forgiven for his anti-woke crusade. He himself receives a kind of forgiveness from people who should know better.
There are many other reasons to be skeptical of this man. His support for tariffs, which he reiterated on Monday, would almost certainly lead to higher prices and higher inflation in the United States. Well, I guess they chose it and have to accept the consequences.
But the rest of the world did not vote for him. American tariffs on the European Union would be reciprocal, as they would be if imposed on Britain. A tariff war would damage international trade and lead to lower living standards.
We can only hope that wiser counsel prevails and that Trump, the arch-American nationalist, thinks again before harming countries that are supposedly allies of the United States.
Then there is Ukraine. The president’s supporters, like my colleague Boris Johnson, cannot believe that he will defend a deal that favors Russia. Let’s hope they are right, but nothing Trump or anyone in his administration has said suggests he is interested in defending Ukrainian interests, although yesterday he raised the possibility of new sanctions against the Putin regime.
NATO may also be in danger. Trump was right in his first term to insist that the European members of the defense organization should pay more. Most of them still have a long way to go, including Britain. But it is not clear that he sees the point of NATO, or that he adequately understands that European security depends on it.
Because Trump is so maverick and devoid of anything resembling a political philosophy, it is difficult to predict what he will do. All I can say is that I fear Britain is going to suffer.
One thing we can be sure of: that the government’s clumsy courtship of President Trump will fail, as the Labor Party is on a completely different wavelength.
He has replaced a perfectly good British ambassador in Washington, and one acceptable to the new administration, with Peter Mandelson, who is disliked there because of his ties to China and his recent rude comments about Trump. Absurdly, the Government believed that the sinuous Mandelson would triumph among the new President.
There is a small chance you will be told you are not welcome in Washington. He is trying to keep his job – and the Rolls-Royce and the beautiful residence – by cloyingly declaring that Trump’s presidency will be “one of the most consequential” of modern times.
Despite everything I have said, I will be glad if I am wrong and Trump turns out to be an effective and beneficial president for this country. After all, he is half British. Maybe that’s our best hope. Although he is thin.
I just think his right-wing admirers would do well to take off their rose-colored glasses. My fear is that the revolutionary Donald Trump will be a disruptive and divisive figure who will not be good for Britain.