Ignore Trump’s appalling manners: he is formidable because he speaks for many Americans

Has there ever been an American President as brutish as Donald Trump?

Not since Andrew Jackson, holder of the office from 1829-37.

But Jackson was a man of personal courage. When captured at the age of 14 by the British, and ordered to clean an officer’s boots, he refused, and received a deep cut across head and hand from the officer’s sword.

And Jackson fought a number of duels. He was infuriated by any slighting reference to his wife, who on marrying him did not realise her previous husband had not yet finalised their divorce.

When Charles Dickinson, the best shot in Tennessee, referred while drunk to the Jackson “adultery”, Jackson challenged him to a duel, and decided to let him fire first, hoping speed would be the enemy of accuracy.

Dickinson hit Jackson, and almost killed him: the bullet lodged so close to his heart it could never be removed. Jackson then took careful aim, but his pistol failed to fire.

The seconds conferred and decided Jackson could have another go, if he insisted. He did insist, and hit Dickinson, who bled to death.

In 1815 Jackson won a famous victory over regular British troops at New Orleans, and in 1824 he ran for the presidency. Henry Clay described him as “ignorant, passionate, hypocritical, corrupt and easily swayed by the basest men who surround him”.

Jackson was popular with frontiersmen and viewed with horror by the political class, which marshalled by Clay, ensured that victory that year went to John Quincy Adams.

Four years later, Jackson took his revenge in the dirtiest election in American history. The mob which at his invitation came to Washington to celebrate his inauguration invaded the White House, smashed the furnishings and could only be induced to leave by the provision of free punch on the lawn.

This is the tradition within which Trump thrives. His supporters feel themselves despised by the political class, looked down upon as uncouth.

Trump is their revenge on the rich liberals who pretend to be on the side of ordinary people but actually harbour nothing but contempt for them.

The more Trump shocks those liberals, the better his redneck supporters are pleased.

Day after day the President flouts the rules of good behaviour. Like a top performer on a reality TV show, he conducts himself with an unbelievable lack of decorum, a man-child swept by every passing appetite or whim.

If this was all he did, his opponents would perhaps by now have got the measure of him.

But every so often, Trump throws them off balance by saying the right thing. Having been scandalously rude to Volodymyr Zelensky, and scandalously indulgent to Vladimir Putin, he now declares on Truth Social:

“After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation and, after seeing the Economic trouble it is causing Russia, I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form. With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option. Why not? Russia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years a War that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win. This is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like ‘a paper tiger.’ When the people living in Moscow, and all of the Great Cities, Towns, and Districts all throughout Russia, find out what is really going on with this War, the fact that it’s almost impossible for them to get Gasoline through the long lines that are being formed, and all of the other things that are taking place in their War Economy, where most of their money is being spent on fighting Ukraine, which has Great Spirit, and only getting better, Ukraine would be able to take back their Country in its original form and, who knows, maybe even go further than that! Putin and Russia are in BIG Economic trouble, and this is the time for Ukraine to act. In any event, I wish both Countries well. We will continue to supply weapons to NATO for NATO to do what they want with them. Good luck to all!”

The end of this stream of consciousness – “Good luck to all!” – has a detached feel, as if Trump is a mere spectator. NATO, to which he says America will continue to supply weapons, is referred to as an independent entity, rather than one led by the United States.

It is more than possible that by the time this piece appears on ConservativeHome, the President will have made some new and startling pronouncement, which renders worthless what he has said here.

But Winston Churchill is supposed to have observed that “the Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing, once all other possibilities have been exhausted.”

According to Richard M Langworth, “Churchill would never have said this publicly, and it is not in any memoirs of his colleagues”, but “he certainly had those sentiments from time to time in World War II”.

Mention of the Second World War reminds us of the long tradition of isolationism in the United States. In his Farewell Address to his compatriots in 1796, George Washington issued a tremendous warning:

“Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European Ambition, Rivalship, Interest, Humour or Caprice?”

Washington was a gentleman, Trump is a braggart, but both of them express their compatriots’ doubts about getting drawn into foreign wars.

One should not allow oneself to become too distracted by Trump’s manners. The President is formidable because he speaks for many Americans.