I spent all last week in London, attending the Historical Materialism conference.
Again, and again, as a Brit who’s lived in the US for decades, I was asked by genuinely puzzled people how it was possible for Trump to become president.
After all, if you are a Brit, this would almost be the equivalent of Nigel Farage, the far-right buffoonish fringe politician and millionaire, becoming prime minister. Farage of course has already rushed across the Atlantic to congratulate Trump on his victory, the first foreign politician to do so. If he had American citizenship Farage would probably be in Trump’s cabinet, a scenario which makes many Brits split their sides with laughter.
(An insight into Farage’s personality is supplied by his joking comment on a Trump-Theresa May meeting: he’d be happy to be there in case someone had to intervene if the lecherous Trump tried to grope Mrs May.)
And it wasn’t just intellectuals at the conference who asked me about Trump’s victory.
I did a little shopping, and when I handed over my American bank-issued credit card, the sales assistant asked me if I was going to go back to the US now that Trump was elected.
(With my red star lapel badge and English accent, I suppose I did not look like someone who supported Trump.)
Of course, this was asked tongue in cheek, but no one asked me this question during my stays in the UK when the ghastly Ronald Reagan and George W Bush were…