I\u2019ll admit it, I was wrong. Contrary to my predictions, Kamala Harris didn\u2019t win the US presidential elections. I read the polls wrong and let my hope get in the way of my fears. The world waits for the next chapter in the Trump tale. With such an unpredictable character it\u2019s hard to see what will unfold. Two things we do know for sure. First, Trump has a history of falling out with his supporters and advisors, and secondly, this time he doesn\u2019t have to worry about reelection.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s distinctly possible that Trump and Elon Musk will be enemies before long. There will be resignations, disputes, and revelations of sleaze and corruption. For other politicians these could be fatal but Trump\u2019s total victory in the election – in defiance of all that US electors know about him – means that these incidences will be viewed as irrelevant as he pursues his policies, such as they are. None of it will constrain him. He will be further emboldened by not having to concern himself about running for election in 2028. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the UK, the right wing press has decided that Trump\u2019s victory will \u2018release the promise of Brexit\u2019. I don\u2019t recall Brexit supporters mentioning that the success of their policy was so dependent on who was President of the US. The sunlit uplands they promised were meant to be the result of the repatriation of sovereignty. It turns out that the UK\u2019s economic future now depends on decisions made by voters in a handful of swing counties in Pennsylvania and Michigan. If they vote one way Brexit is a success, if they decide something else then it isn\u2019t. That\u2019s not the realisation of the \u2018promise\u2019 of Brexit, it\u2019s a clear indication that the UK has made itself a hostage to fortune. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And in the meantime, Scotland\u2019s economy is billions of pounds worse off because our potential as a trading nation has been stymied by having our access to the EU blocked by the voters of Sunderland and Swindon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump\u2019s victory makes an unstable global situation even more unpredictable. Scotland tied to the UK is in a particularly vulnerable position. The UK cut itself off from its partners and relinquished its role as a bridge between the US and the EU. It has cast itself adrift. Largely irrelevant to both sides and struggling to find any meaningful place in the world, the UK is in the position of after thought at best and supplicant at worst. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Scotland we have no option but to go down whatever road the government in London decides to take. Right wingers imagine an Atlantic alliance of isolationists with the UK enjoying a favourable relationship with the authoritarian regime in Washington. But these are fantasies. There is nothing to suggest that Trump casts a glad eye on the UK or that his plan to impose tariffs will exclude exports from here. Scotland will suffer disproportionately because our exports will be blocked in all directions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This new world order threatens our interests but upheaval often brings about positive change. The case for independence and re-imagining our relationship with the rest of the world has never been more pressing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019ll admit it, I was wrong. Contrary to my predictions, Kamala Harris didn\u2019t win the US presidential elections. I read the polls wrong and let my hope get in the way of my fears. The world waits for the next chapter in the Trump tale. With such an unpredictable character it\u2019s hard to see what will unfold. Two things we do know for sure. First, Trump has a history of falling out with his supporters and advisors, and secondly, this time he doesn\u2019t have to worry about reelection.\u00a0 It\u2019s distinctly possible that Trump and Elon Musk will be enemies before long. There will be resignations,Read More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[236],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3723"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3723"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3724,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3723\/revisions\/3724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}