The American economist Thomas Sowell once wrote: “People will forgive you for being wrong, but they will never forgive you for being right – especially if events prove you right while proving them wrong.”
So it seems with President Trump. He has been proven right about pretty much everything and now he is trying to do something about it, the elite is howling with indiscriminate outrage.
It turns out that the Paris Climate Accords led to unilateral economic disarmament in the West, especially in Britain; that China has proved to be a malevolent force and is now eating our lunch; that the overly draconian Covid lockdowns were a mistake; that the “swamp” or “deep state” – call it what you will – is a real threat and was subverting democracy; and that mass migration has been an economic and cultural disaster.
Trump is right that towns and cities have been hollowed out, on both sides of the Atlantic: places like Ohio and Scunthorpe have suffered, with closed industries leaving dilapidated town centres and a trail of social and drug problems in their wake.
This is not a new challenge. I spent my primary school years in the 1980s in Paisley. Its disused cotton mills pointed to the town’s better days. But it has become all encompassing. It’s actually worse here than in America – with sky-high energy prices and a refusal to permit fracking making it hard for the remaining British manufacturers to survive.
This was demonstrated by Saturday’s dash by MPs to Parliament to back what was tantamount to steel nationalisation – engendered by China and net zero, for which MPs had enthusiastically legislated. As they congratulated themselves for turning up to work on a weekend, few of them seemed prepared to do any deep thinking about why we were in this mess in the first place.
The American economist Thomas Sowell once wrote: “People will forgive you for being wrong, but they will never forgive you for being right – especially if events prove you right while proving them wrong.”
So it seems with President Trump. He has been proven right about pretty much everything and now he is trying to do something about it, the elite is howling with indiscriminate outrage.
It turns out that the Paris Climate Accords led to unilateral economic disarmament in the West, especially in Britain; that China has proved to be a malevolent force and is now eating our lunch; that the overly draconian Covid lockdowns were a mistake; that the “swamp” or “deep state” – call it what you will – is a real threat and was subverting democracy; and that mass migration has been an economic and cultural disaster.
Trump is right that towns and cities have been hollowed out, on both sides of the Atlantic: places like Ohio and Scunthorpe have suffered, with closed industries leaving dilapidated town centres and a trail of social and drug problems in their wake.
This is not a new challenge. I spent my primary school years in the 1980s in Paisley. Its disused cotton mills pointed to the town’s better days. But it has become all encompassing. It’s actually worse here than in America – with sky-high energy prices and a refusal to permit fracking making it hard for the remaining British manufacturers to survive.
This was demonstrated by Saturday’s dash by MPs to Parliament to back what was tantamount to steel nationalisation – engendered by China and net zero, for which MPs had enthusiastically legislated. As they congratulated themselves for turning up to work on a weekend, few of them seemed prepared to do any deep thinking about why we were in this mess in the first place.