Older readers will remember that Stalin was very fond of rewriting history when it displeased him.
This week we’re seeing that tendency being played out as farce here in the UK and as tragedy over in the USA.
The UK farce first. And briefly, because there isn’t much more to say about it. The Downing Street line on the party they had last Christmas – when none of the rest of us plebs were allowed to have parties – went as follows: There was no party. OK, there was a party but it didn’t break any rules.
Right, maybe it broke the rules but it was a long time ago so let’s forget about it, move on and stop playing politics.
Boris Johnson’s bare-faced lying has now reached such an incredible pitch that you really do marvel at how he keeps a straight face. Well, he doesn’t really. That terrible half-smirk is almost constantly on display now.
It’s a smirk that says: “Everyone knows I’m lying but, incredibly, this tactic will still fly with some of the electorate who will say, ‘Oh he’s just doing his best. And Corbyn would have been worse.’” The truly sad thing is, he’s probably right. People will listen to him.
Across the Atlantic, history is being rewritten in far darker colours.
You’ll remember as well as me watching the assault on the US Capitol back on January 6. The terrifying scenes as Donald Trump very deliberately unleashed his supporters were some of the darkest moments not just in recent American history but in the history of democracy.
And, for a brief window, it looked as though Trump had finally gone too far for the Republican party, whose senators and Congresspeople (mostly, bar a few outright lunatics like Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene) sought to distance themselves from the madman who refused to accept the election results and tried to bring mob rule to the streets of Washington.
In the wake of lunatics rampaging through the halls of power chanting “HANG MIKE PENCE”, of a rioter called Ashli Babbitt being shot dead as she tried to smash her way into the building and of their colleagues cowering in fear for their lives, many Republicans denounced the insurrectionists and – for the first time – Trump himself in strong terms.
What a difference a year makes.
Those same insurrectionists are now held up as “patriots”. Their calculated riot was a “peaceful protest” that just “got out of hand”. And Ashli Babbitt is no longer a violent Trump supporter who was shot to prevent her leading an attack on innocent people. She is a “martyr” who was “murdered”.
These are the lies Trump has been spewing since January 7 in his attempt to rewrite history. Again, the problem is, people are listening...
Back in June a poll found that just over eight per cent of Americans agreed with the statement: “Joe Biden is an illegitimate president and violence is justified to restore Trump to the White House.” That was worrying enough in that it corresponded to 21million people.
Many of them armed, of course. What’s even more worrying is that this number hasn’t gone down over time as the facts about the attack on the Capitol have emerged – it’s increased.
A Public Religion Research Institute survey last month found that 12 per cent of Americans now believe the election was stolen from Trump and that “true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country”.
A terrifying 68 per cent of Republican voters believe – with no evidence – that the 2020 election was fraudulent. When Trump runs – and loses – again in 2024, there’ll be an awful lot of people listening to his claims of fraud.
Like Johnson’s supporters over here, they’re willing to believe in such utter garbage because they want it so very badly to be true.
Of course, it’s not clear-cut.
The American tragedy contains elements of farce. And the British farce has elements of tragedy.
One of the Capitol rioters on trial now was caught on camera strolling through the building calling out: “Nancy! Come out to play!” A clear threat of violence towards Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi? Not so. In his defence, he said, “I could have been calling for any Nancy.” Cue laughter in the courtroom.
And while all eyes over here were focused on the Downing Street party fiasco, the Tories used their majority in the Commons to rush through their appalling Nationality and Borders Bill. A draconian piece of legislation that likely breaches all sorts of human rights laws, it allows Home Secretary Priti Patel to strip foreign-born British nationals of their citizenship without notice.
And there’s something else linking the political right on both sides of the Atlantic. We see it in the Republican politicians who must go on TV and promote the Big Lie, claiming they have concerns about election security.
We see it in the stuttering, spluttering speeches of Tory MPs and ministers who have to give interviews where they say “there was no breach of the rules” or “there was no party”.
It’s the one thing Johnsonism and Trumpism have in common: the requirement that their followers must regularly completely debase and humiliate themselves for the benefit of the glorious leader.
I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I can’t help thinking – wouldn’t you have an easier, more pleasant life if you chose to follow someone who didn’t lie all the time?
