A Very Special Relationship

How Trumpists and Brexiteers are kindred spirits united by common values

Montage by the author

Ever since 1945 the British have attempted to console themselves with the notion that although the UK may be a declining second-rank power it has a “special relationship” with the world’s (former) Superpower, the USA. Like a small child seeking shelter under the protection of an older and stronger brother, the UK has clung to this mental security blanket for seventy-five years.

Although it is a totally delusional idea (the UK is at best the USA’s obedient poodle) it does have some foundation in reality provided that we use the word “special” in its colloquial sense.

Brexit voters are especially prone to delusional thinking — after all, they imagined the blustering lies of a third-rate children’s party clown were a promise of a golden future rather than, as people with measurable IQs knew all along, a one-way trip into dreary accelerated decline and total irrelevance. But hope is not lost: seventy-four million US voters are doing their very best to ensure Brexiteers don’t feel totally alone. Trump supporters are just as “special” as those who voted for Brexit.

This article will examine the ways in which both groups are very “special” indeed.