Frida Ghitis, (@fridaghitis) former producer and CNN correspondent, is a chronicler of world affairs. He is a frequent opinion contributor to CNN, a columnist contributing to the Washington Post and a columnist for World Politics Review. The views expressed in this commentary are their own. See more reviews on CNN.
(CNN) For millions of Americans watching last week’s political drama in London, the show has been a welcome entertainment, a truce from bitter divisions that aggravates the United States, and a reassuring reminder that other countries are also suffering a setback. convoluted political theater. But it was also a melancholy memory that even if the United States did not have a monopoly on political machinations on the edge of your seat, other democracies seemed to handle its most success.
The cascade of resignations by British officials urging that the ethically challenged Prime Minister Boris Johnson resign has finally produced the desired result. After an endless series of scandals, and after stubborn plans that he did not give up, Johnson finally announced his resignation Thursday.
It seems that democracy has prevailed in the UK. It was a bit of a shambolic circus, to be sure, in keeping with Johnson’s prime minister and most of his life (not to mention his hair). But in the end, the process worked, and Britain got off the board.
The man that former President Donald Trump has said people call “Trump Britain” has ended up resigning in disgrace for lying, for breaking the rules and for trying to escape once again.
It is true that Johnson and Trump had more in common than their chaotic helmets. Johnson’s misdeeds sounded familiar to American ears, but they were not in the same league as the incitement to a violent insurgency (for which Trump has denied responsibility) and to trying to overthrow his country’s democracy. .
Seen from the other side of the Atlantic, the British chaos was simultaneously satisfying and unsettling. The Americans, whose democracy survived just four years after Trump, have reflected a comparison between the transgressions that led to the Conservative Party of Great Britain and most of the United Kingdom turning their backs on Johnson and the much more damaging and dangerous actions of the former president of the United States, which remains. to date the most powerful figure in the Republican Party and it seems almost certain to seek the presidency again.
Both Johnson and Trump assume power with long records of rule violations, dishonesty and deception. His supporters knew who they had chosen. His patterns of life continued in the office.
By Trump’s standards, however, Johnson’s lies and misdeeds while the prime minister are not qualified for the evening’s news.
It’s a tribute to British democracy that Tory leaders have decided “enough is enough” after Johnson was taken to heart. The unlikely final straw, the one that fractured the spine of the proverbially overloaded camel, landed after nominating Chris Pincher to a leadership position after he was accused of sexual misconduct. (In a letter of resignation to Johnson, Pincher did not admit the allegations directly, writing, “last night I drank too much” and “embarrassed myself and others.”)
Other allegations of Pincher’s past conduct then reappeared in light of his resignation. For some puzzling reason, Johnson continued to change his story so he named Pincher. Instead of admitting an error and continuing, he claimed that he did not know any specific allegations.
Imagine this under Trump. It would only rank in the top 1,000 scandals.
For Johnson, it has accumulated on top of other high-profile controversies. Most prominent, there was “Partygate,” the long series of months of prevarication over Johnson’s multiple parties on Downing Street while the country was under tight blockade of Covid-19. The lies were dismissed by photographs of the prime minister and his festive house guests, alcohol in hand, even after Johnson had pretended innocence, claiming that he “implicitly believed that this was a work event”.
He became the first British prime minister fined for violating the law and apologized to parliament “unreservedly”. But he stayed in the office and continued to play with the truth.
Johnson’s behavior and his contempt for the truth – which helped him get to the office – were inconsistent by normal standards. By Trump’s standards, having been convicted of uttering 30,573 lies and misleading statements while in office, and has not resigned since his post, was a weak effort.
In the end, Johnson was, is, an entitled, charismatic politician, who felt that rules were made for others, and he had no intention of making up stories to make his way. He escaped almost every time. But he was not a darkly evil figure of the caliber that threatened the democracy of the United States. It was more of the small-caliber variety, the kind that gradually eroded norms and values - a long-term threat rather than an immediate threat.
When he resigned as party leader, Johnson did not blame himself, but the “instinct of the herd.” If it was the instinct of the herd, it was a very welcome one, an awakening to the respect of decency; a belated recognition that leaders with hollow ethical cores are dangerous to democracies.
It’s not just Americans who automatically thought of Trump when they heard that Johnson was finally being held accountable. Across Europe, many have drawn the analogy. Guy Verhofstadt, a longtime Belgian prime minister and now a prominent member of the European Parliament, tweeted: “The reign of Boris Johnson ends in disgrace, as does his friend Donald Trump. The end of an era of transatlantic populism? We hope so. ”
But Americans aren’t so sure that Trump’s reign is definitely over. The majority wanted Trump to leave. But he didn’t. Not after two impeachments, not after he allegedly led a failed coup attempt, not after an election he lost decisively, but always insists he won.
Although it wasn’t easy and they waited too long, British Conservative leaders faced an easier time to get back in their head than American Republicans. In Britain, they stayed with him and mostly tolerated Johnson’s transgressions. In the United States, countless elected Republicans have done much more than tolerate Trump’s lies. They embraced him, amplified him, chased his fate with lies and liars.
However, last week’s events in London reveal an opening, which allows for a glimmer of hope that those who have quietly promoted, defended or tolerated Trump will decide one day that they have even reached their limit. And that enough of them will say it out loud so they can force the most undemocratic of players off the stage and move on to heal a divided and exhausted country – and their very battered democracy.
