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Each Britain and America flatter themselves that their political techniques are admired everywhere in the world. The UK is the house to the “mom of parliaments”. The US is the “chief of the free world”. The 2 nations see themselves as mature democracies; fashions that different nations can emulate.
However the previous couple of years have shaken that Anglo-American complacency. Britain has suffered the agonies of Brexit and bought by way of 4 prime ministers in as a few years. The US noticed Congress stormed on January 6 2021 in what was primarily an tried coup by an outgoing president.
The troubles of democracy have deep roots in each nations. However they’re additionally intently related to two people — Donald Trump and Boris Johnson.
Trump and Johnson have championed the same model of politics. Each have constructed up cults of persona, convincing their most devoted followers that they’re males of future. Each are nostalgic nationalists, who’ve promised to revive their nation’s greatness. Each declare to be representatives of the folks towards a self-interested elite.
As a result of they regard themselves as distinctive, indispensable figures, Johnson and Trump have felt free to interrupt the legal guidelines and conventions that usually bind political leaders. When challenged or held to account, each have claimed to be the victims of a deep-state conspiracy.
This can be a model of politics that’s well-known everywhere in the world. The charismatic strongman chief — paranoid, power-hungry, unaccountable and surrounded by sycophants — is a sadly acquainted determine. Simply take a look at the ranting speeches of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who claims to see conspiracies towards him in every single place.
For Erdoğan, the regulation is a weapon for use towards his political opponents somewhat than one thing that he himself should obey. The identical is true for Vladimir Putin in Russia. In Turkey and Russia alike, the president’s political opponents incessantly find yourself in jail, whereas the leaders themselves are by no means held to account, regardless of the accusations of corruption and abuse of energy that swirl round them.
It’s these questions of the rule of regulation and accountability which might be central to the newest episodes of the Trump and Johnson cleaning soap operas.
The previous US president has simply been indicted for mishandling categorized paperwork. The previous UK prime minister has simply resigned from the Home of Commons after a committee accused him of mendacity to parliament about breaking the regulation throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
The reactions of Trump and Johnson to their present travails are strikingly comparable. They’ve adopted the identical paranoid and self-interested narrative, claiming that they’re the victims of a political conspiracy and that the system is rigged towards them and their followers.
Such assertions strike on the coronary heart of the US and British photos of themselves as mature democracies wherein the rule of regulation will not be a charade however a actuality. The grim suggestion is that governance in Washington and London is little totally different from Moscow or Ankara.
Each Trump and Johnson are fabulists for whom the reality is solely what’s politically or personally handy on the time. That model of politics is changing into extra frequent and threatening. We dwell in a social media age wherein “various details” (within the phrases of a former Trump aide) can all the time be concocted, if the true details show inconvenient.
Any functioning, law-governed democracy have to be primarily based on the concept that there’s such a factor as reality and that it may be established in a court docket or by a parliamentary committee. Crucially, that could be very totally different from saying that Trump or Johnson have to be discovered responsible. They’ve each proper to protest their innocence. If both may show it earlier than a court docket of regulation or a parliamentary committee, that might be simply as a lot an indication of democracy in motion as a responsible verdict.
The courts, political events and the voters all have a job to play in ensuring that the rule of regulation and democracy perform correctly. Right here, the outlook appears extra promising within the UK than within the US.
The parliamentary committee that discovered towards Johnson comprises a majority of members of his personal get together. Against this, only a few Republicans in Congress have turned towards Trump, no matter their non-public misgivings. The decide who will rule on the newest Trump indictment in Florida was appointed by the previous president. She, too, have to be seen to behave impartially.
If the courts do their job in an clearly truthful {and professional} method, it’s extra possible that their verdicts will command the respect of voters. A majority of voters, just like the courts, even have to have the ability to resist conspiracy theories and “various” details. That appears removed from a certain factor within the US, the place Trump stays the favorite for the Republican nomination and is neck and neck with President Joe Biden within the polls for an election.
The instances of Trump and Johnson will matter far past the shores of the US and the UK. If they’re correctly dealt with, it can ship a significant message to folks battling autocracies everywhere in the world. America and Britain want to indicate that it actually is feasible to have a system wherein political leaders are held to account — and the place the rule of regulation is a actuality not a delusion.
gideon.rachman@ft.com
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