"failing upwards"

Nick Cohen on what links the sheer incompetence of men (almost always men, white men) like Boris Johnson and Donald Trump as they drag us all down to a hell of their own making:

"Johnson’s career of failing upwards since he left Eton illustrates that overconfidence is class determined. In politics and so many other British institutions, you see mediocrities take jobs for which they are not remotely qualified, because wealthy families and a private education have emboldened them.

In all spheres, catastrophic men and women are united by an imperviousness to the suffering they cause. Even on the most optimistic assumptions, UK in a Changing Europe found Johnson’s 'deal' will take £16bn from already dangerously underfunded public services and all who depend on them. (The pessimists believe £49bn will go.) The PM’s lack of concern for them is typical. Dixon described the siege of Kut in 1915 in what is now Iraq: an operation that led to 30,000 British and Indian army casualties. It distinguished itself, even in the First World War, for having no military purpose whatsoever."

Arguably, England is screwed even worse than America right now, because Brexit will last for generations.  Not that Trumpism is going away any time soon (there is no difference between Trumpism and Republican ideology), but at least we can start to turn things around next year, given some exceptional luck in the polls.