This week in Brexitland, July 13, 2023

How this week demonstrated the degree to which Brexit has damaged the “special relationship” with the US

The coverage of Joe Biden’s visit to the UK this week has been done in largely partisan strokes by the British media, albeit within the boundaries of the utterly bizarre partisanship of the 2020s. It used to be that the right in the UK was instinctively pro-American, whether there was a Democrat or a Republican in the White House. Now, they talk about Biden as if he’s Kim Jong Un; not just an undesirable leader of another country but someone who threatens the stability of the western world.

All of this seems to rest on a lingering worship of Trump, which is one of the strangest things the British right has indulged in over the last decade - and given they’ve indulged in some fairly weird shit, this is a big statement. Perhaps I could see why they had hoped Trump might come good for them early into the Don’s presidency. His praising of Brexit in public was sharply against the grain of both left and right orthodoxy in the States, so I suppose I can see why the British right thought he might help them out with some great trade deal. Except for the fact that Trump ran on an entirely protectionist platform, one that would have seemed to have ruled out giving Great Britain a better trade deal than the US had concluded with any other nation ever in its history. Just saying, the hints were there, if you weren’t living in a constructed fantasy world.

What I see in all of the Biden bashing are the psychological scars of Brexit being acted out by the Brexiters in ways that are about avoiding further pain and humiliation. It’s like when you were in love with someone at school and they humiliated you, so you convinced yourself you not only hated them in the moment, but that you had always hated them. Yes, it’s that childish, but one of the main aspects of Brexit is how infantile it seems to have made great swathes of the British right ever since it happened.

“The Americans don’t want to reward us for our stupid move that hasn’t worked out? Well, we never cared about them anyhow! We’re going to go and make friends with someone else! In fact, we just joined a trade group that allows us slightly increased quotas on goods with Malaysia! We don’t need you, most powerful nation on Earth! You or your European friends! We can do it by ourselves!”

And if you step away from it a little, it’s very sad. The British right can’t quite bring themselves to admit they are really, really angry with America for not seeing that Brexit was like the American forefathers declaring independence, or whatever other ridiculous, sci-fi level comparison they want to make with the UK leaving the largest single market on the planet for no good reason.

They are hoping that if Trump wins once more in 2024, everything will be come good again in the “special relationship” in much the same way Star Wars fans convinced themselves before each instalment of the prequels was released that this next film would finally be the one that was good. The idea that if Trump became president again he would re-open trade talks with the UK and this time we’d reach the holy land is an act of faith beyond any religion in the world I can think of. It’s so obviously untrue, it’s amazing that grown adults can do anything other than dismiss the very concept.

One of the sure signs that the British right has finally started to come to its senses will be when the American bashing ceases. It will be one of those symptoms of them coming to terms with Brexit’s failure, ditching the fantasies attached to it and moving on. We’re years away from that happening, I fear - the general election wipeout that’s coming for the Tories will be yet another blow that will probably engender further childish behaviour and thinking. But one day relatively soon, they are going to have to come to terms with reality. As they themselves like to tell you, facts don’t care about your feelings.

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