Was Theresa May attacking Trump, or a blond populist closer to home?
The Prime Minister’s UN gambit exposes her as an unreliable, unsuitable partner
NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 26: British Prime Minister Theresa May prepares to address the United Nations General Assembly on September 26, 2018 in New York City. World leaders are gathered for the 73rd annual meeting at the UN headquarters in Manhattan. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
Did British prime minister Theresa May take a shot at Donald Trump in yesterday afternoon’s address to the UN General Assembly? It certainly sounds like it. Or was Trump a proxy target for another blond populist, Boris Johnson? It certainly looks like it.
On Tuesday, Trump had rejected the ‘ideology of globalism’ and defended the nation state and its ‘doctrine of patriotism’. The next day, May mounted the same stage and implicitly rejected Trump’s stance:
‘We have seen what happens when the natural patriotism which is a cornerstone of a healthy society is warped into aggressive nationalism,…
Did British prime minister Theresa May take a shot at Donald Trump in yesterday afternoon’s address to the UN General Assembly? It certainly sounds like it. Or was Trump a proxy target for another blond populist, Boris Johnson? It certainly looks like it.
On Tuesday, Trump had rejected the ‘ideology of globalism’ and defended the nation state and its ‘doctrine of patriotism’. The next day, May mounted the same stage and implicitly rejected Trump’s stance:
‘We have seen what happens when the natural patriotism which is a cornerstone of a healthy society is warped into aggressive nationalism, exploiting fear and uncertainty to promote identity politics at home and belligerent confrontation abroad, while breaking rules and undermining institutions.’
Dominic Green, PhD, FRHistS is a critic and historian. The author of four books, he writes widely on the arts and current affairs, and contributes regularly to the Wall Street Journal and the New Criterion. His next book, The Religious Revolution, is forthcoming with Farrar, Strauss & Giroux.
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