There have been no blogs for a while. It has often seemed futile to rail at the dire political leadership in the UK and the US but here you go… Johnson advocates breaking international law over an agreement with the EU he signed less than 12 months ago to win an election, whilst Trump threatens to ignore November’s Presidential election result due to ‘fraudulent’ postal ballot voting. Both leaders are guilty of chaotically managing the pandemic, yet incredibly, Johnson remains ahead in polls and Trump is just a few points behind Biden.

Why is this the case? There are various reasons. Both Trump and Johnson have played a clever game in exploiting disillusionment with past political regimes. Globalisation has been unkind to many; the professional classes as represented by the likes of Cameron, Obama, Clinton et al have been seen as remote, hypocritical and/or patronising. It was time for a change. Traditional alliances, treaties, political correctness and even experts are out. They don’t matter to many mainstream, frustrated voters. However unfair, they feel nothing seems to change. The immediacy of crude nationalism in the form of Making America Great Again and Brexit (ex-Corbyn) is in.

This is a narrative that will maintain its resonance with many voters for years. Liberal commentators can rage at each other using the echo chamber of social media, but Johnson is safe. In the US, although Trump may lose in November, he has reshaped American politics. The Republican and Conservative parties will not be the same for a generation.

But just in case this analysis is wrong, there is an additional weapon these leaders employ. They encourage voters to disengage from politics so chaos, lack of principle and incompetence go unnoticed. They trash the media and try to by-pass it. Trump’s concept of ‘fake news’ is well known, as is his desire to frustrate postal voting, but Johnson is seeking to introduce White House style broadcast press briefings too so he can ignore the conduit of regular, questioning journalism. As in the US, UK history is being re-written with bombast, whether it be the EU Agreement or manipulating facts around the management of Covid-19. Key policy announcements are made outside the House of Common; acquiescent Cabinet Members read out their scripts; expert analysis, certainly any offered by the judiciary, is carelessly denigrated and criticism is labelled simply as enemy liberal whinging.

Johnson and Cummings are set on a revolution, even if the former has arrived at this conclusion by accident. If politics is polarised, filled with outrage and ultimately based on the most charitable premise of ‘tune them out, they would say that wouldn’t they?’, then opposition can be ignored. The public in the UK have been worn out by the Brexit wrangles, all magnified by online anger. Johnson is almost certainly around for a good few years and they just want a breather from knowing or even caring who is right or wrong. Governing without attracting the attention of, or bothering, the voter is the aim. Encouraging disengagement at every opportunity is the method.