No. 198 – Trump Acquitted – The Big Lie Continues.
Dear James,
Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial has ended, as predicted, with his acquittal by 57 to 43. Despite the overwhelming evidence that he was the ‘Instigator in Chief’ of the January 6th attack on the seat of American democracy, only seven Republicans in the Senate, refused the clear need to find him guilty. And that is despite each member of the Senate being required to take an oath promising to be ‘impartial jurors’ in such a trial. A poll last week found that 56%of voters think he should be convicted compared with 47% in the first impeachment trial. By contrast, only 15% of Republican voters believe this to be the case. Principle has deserted the Republican Party. The lie has replaced the truth as its guiding light.
The clue to Conservatism is in its name. Conservatives conserve what is. In our own country the Tories first emerged as a group during the ‘Exclusion crisis’ of 1679-81 when attempts were made to stop Charles 2nd’s brother, a Catholic, from succeeding to the throne. The original Tories were opposed to exclusion and supported the succession. Soon after however, it was forced to change its ideas when the ‘Glorious Revolution’ changed everything. The Tories had to retreat. And that has been the essential nature of Conservatism ever since. ‘Strategic Retreat’ to support the status quo unless the ‘facts on the ground’ change.
Conservatism loves power first of all. It knows that with power it can always control the agenda to its members’ advantage. And that is why it has in fact gone along with unavoidable change at key moments of its history. Traditional Tories have always spouted values such as low taxes and minimum government. These, however, have always been secondary to one main principle - the principle to win and keep power no matter what. That is why your party James has survived longer than any right wing party in the world. ‘Strategic Retreat’ conserves the maximum amount of your members’ assets by appearing to ‘go with the times’. Yours is essentially a selfish party. It has had no big ideas of social reform unless ‘the facts on the ground’ change. ‘Resist’ until the last moment and then ‘retreat’ and claim the retreat as a ‘Strategic Advance.’ The NHS is an example of an idea developed by Liberals and Labour and yet now accepted by the Tory Party as gospel.
Conservatism does not just conserve assets. It conserves existing social structures. It conserves existing land ownership systems. It conserves laws that protect those assets. In that way it protects its own interests. I have no objection to moderate conservatism. It has offered stability and has been a brake on extremism. Until, that is, it becomes extreme itself when it resorts to its basic principle -the need to win. And it will do that ruthlessly even to the extent of lying.
Over the last ten years, the right wing everywhere has become more prevalent and more radicalized. From the Philippines to Turkey, from Egypt to Russia, from America to the UK and most recently, Myanmar, various forms of extreme conservatism have taken power either nakedly or through the influence of the `Big Lie’ on the ballot box. Of course I am not equating Boris with the Myanmar generals, but Big Lies and Army putsches are on the same continuum. There is a massive difference between spin and untruth but `Big Lies’ are only a few steps away from a military coup. In Hitler’s Germany it was the ‘Stab in the Back’ in which the right wing claimed that the army had been betrayed by the politicians to end the First World War. In France it was the Big Lie of the Dreyfus Affair (1894-1906) where the army claimed that a Jewish Captain Dreyfus had betrayed the nation. Mr Trump is its latest exponent claiming that the 2020 vote was fraudulent. And he has used another means to do this. Identity. He, a plutocrat, has exploited identity politics to win the votes of the poor. As has Boris with his capture of the ‘Red Wall’ in 2019. The need to reconcile the poor with the preservation of the interest of the rich is a challenge still to be faced by Boris.
Big Lies leave their imprint on parties and history. Brexit is the imprint of the Big Lie on our history. This whopper started with Nigel Farage who, with many other lies, scared many with the spectre of 80 million Turks flooding into our country. Boris has ‘borrowed’ Farage’s Big Lie and added his variants. We all remember the £350 million per week going into an NHS freed from EU red tape. Once a liar, always a liar.
Memorably, Biden called Boris a ‘physical and emotional clone’ of Trump. They have both built careers on lying. On Saturday in the USA, Trump may have been acquitted but January 6th 2021 will live on as his epitaph. Boris’s epitaph will be Brexit. We still have three more years of him and he will hope that some temporary successes like the vaccination roll-out will wipe out his record. Sorry Boris; 120,000 deaths and counting will live in the history books and your name – and yours too James - will be attached.
Kind Regards,
BH - Your Concerned Constituent