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Andrew Bolt: Conservatives around the world will pay for Trump’s fatal flaws

Trump would have won the election if he’d just acted like a president instead of stupidly making more enemies than he could survive, writes Andrew Bolt.

Donald Trump. Picture: AFP
Donald Trump. Picture: AFP

Damn Donald Trump for throwing away this election. Conservatives around the world will now pay for his ludicrous bragging, bullying and lying.

Trump would have won if he’d just acted like a president. If he’d acted with dignity and discipline.

He’d have won if he hadn’t treated people with an alternative view — even staff — as an enemy to be mocked and fired, and if he’d not treated the coronavirus as yet another annoying opponent to be belittled.

His ego is so fragile and manners so boorish that he even abused Senator John McCain, a former Republican presidential candidate and a war hero in his home state, Arizona.

McCain had fought in Vietnam until he was captured and tortured. But Trump, who never served, hated being criticised by McCain and mocked him as no real hero: “I like people that weren’t captured.”

Trump’s bombastic self-will failed. Picture: AFP
Trump’s bombastic self-will failed. Picture: AFP

For that, McCain’s widow campaigned hard against Trump in Arizona, a traditionally Republican state that this time fell to Joe Biden.

But here’s the dilemma.

Trump’s fatal flaws — his bombastic self-will and sneering contempt for critics and “experts” — also helped him to do the bold things that more statesmanlike leaders would have dodged out of self-preservation.

Only a Trump would have dared to ignore “experts” and challenge climate alarmism, or meet North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un to ease tensions.

Only a man with Trump’s arrogance would have ignored experts again and moved the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the capital, Jerusalem, and then further isolate Palestinian extremists by brokering peace deals between Israel and three Muslim rivals.

Only Trump would have dared to refuse to play the Left’s race politics, or ignore the screams of the malignant media class to often do the improbable — and the good.

But, unlike George W. Bush or Ronald Reagan, he also ignored plain good manners, and stupidly made more enemies than he could survive. And how he’s paid.

So have conservatives. Look at the conservative leaders now left.

Australia’s Scott Morrison and even Britain’s Boris Johnson seem keener to stay in power than bend history. But are they wrong?

Trump fell almost on the day that the US formally left the Paris Climate Accord. Biden instantly said he would rejoin.

Trump just bought four years of delay.

And now remorse for what could have been.

MORE BOLT:

MEDIA’S EYES WIDE SHUT TO WAR ON THE WEST

TWO FACTS LEFT MUST ACCEPT TO STOP THE US IMPLODING

Andrew Bolt
Andrew BoltColumnist

With a proven track record of driving the news cycle, Andrew Bolt steers discussion, encourages debate and offers his perspective on national affairs. A leading journalist and commentator, Andrew’s columns are published in the Herald Sun, Daily Telegraph and Advertiser. He writes Australia's most-read political blog and hosts The Bolt Report on Sky News Australia at 7.00pm Monday to Thursday.

Read related topics:Donald Trump

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Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/andrew-bolt/andrew-bolt-conservatives-around-the-world-will-pay-for-trumps-fatal-flaws/news-story/d7898bbf836af8501cec4a09be4b4c88