Ed West Ed West

Donald Trump is a gift for the progressive narrative

With all the awfulness in Britain this year, it’s been easy to forget about what’s happening across the pond, which is some small comfort. Donald Trump’s travel ban came into effect last night. It is a more nuanced and reasonable version of the order he issued in March. Will it make much difference to security or, more pertinently, the rate of immigration from these countries? Who knows, but the damage from the earlier ban has already been done.

When I first saw the future president speaking at rallies, he appeared to me a left-wing person’s idea of what a right-wing man is – loud, confident, small-minded, Manichean in his world view, claiming to speak on behalf of the little people but clearly with his own agenda. He also represented the trend of conservatism dumbing-down but taken to its absurd conclusion. And yet he won, because when it comes down to it, people vote for politicians who are on their side.

But while 2016 seemed to be bathed in liberal tears, the left’s pessimism seems to me misplaced.  If you wanted to permanently damage opposition to social liberalism, you couldn’t have chosen a better antagonist than Trump; already anti-immigration parties on the continent seem to be in decline, which is probably not unconnected to the blundering imbecile in Washington.

Trump is perfectly cast for the role in the progressive narrative in which there is a right vs. wrong side of history. I realised this after he initially tried to ban people temporarily from seven predominantly Muslim countries, a decision that was clumsy, arbitrary, and stupid.  Even the choice of states showed a real lack of sense: Iranian-Americans are largely middle-class and secular, and include a huge numbers of students and academics. Banning Iraqis meant locking out interpreters who had risked their lives for American soldiers.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in