If you think Boris Johnson is a bad prime minister, things could be worse – we could have Donald Trump as our leader – SIMON CARTER

A horrifying gun murder rate, more Covid-19 deaths than any other country, one in four of their population laid off work in recent weeks, a bloody history of police brutality and subsequent rioting - George Floyd and Minneapolis only the latest, sadly - and Donald John Trump as president. God bless America.
A man holds up a sign near a burning building during protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images.A man holds up a sign near a burning building during protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images.
A man holds up a sign near a burning building during protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images.

Boris Johnson is not the best prime minister we have ever had, but even his fiercest critics would surely prefer to have him in charge of their country than the tweet-happy narcissist who has been the leader of the free world since January 2017.

Johnson has not covered himself in glory during the pandemic. His government have handled the crisis poorly, the prime minister has regularly issued confusing advice and the Dominic Cummings saga was/still is an insult to the Great British public. I cannot believe the Cummings story did not contribute to the farcical scenes at Durdle Door beach in Dorset at the weekend.

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But things could be worse, a lot worse. We could live in America and have Donald Trump as our president.

If Johnson had been prime minister during the London riots of early August 2011, would he have taken to social media to say ‘when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!’ No, he wouldn’t. And for all his faults - he has many - we should be grateful for that at least.

But Trump said those very words on Twitter to his 80.8 million followers: ‘When the looting starts, the shooting starts.’

When the president uses that sort of vocabulary, it is easy to understand the scars that run deep through what should be one of the greatest countries on earth.

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In 2017, there were 39,733 murders by gunshot in the USA. I’ll save you doing the maths - that’s about one every 15 minutes. God bless America.

Of that number, 23,854 were by suicide and 14,542 were homicides. In contrast, there were only 728 homicides in total - whether a gun was used or not - in the UK in 2017. That is how much a gun matters in America.

Trump’s moral compass has long been dubious, but a new nadir has been reached when the leader of the free world openly talks - boasts even - of the police/military ‘shooting’ at American citizens (even if they are committing a criminal offence).

There is an obvious link between the Cummings saga and Minneapolis burning after George Floyd had a police officer’s knee wedged into his neck until he died. It is abuse of power.

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Derek Chauvin, the officer since charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter on Floyd, abused his power. Same as the Los Angeles Police Department officers who were filmed dishing out a violent beating to Rodney King in 1991, but who were subsequently acquitted by a jury featuring ten white people out of 12 - leading to days of riots. God bless America.

Dominic Cummings’ crime was far less severe, but in the eyes of many law-abiding citizens he was seen to be abusing his power. There was no apology, which didn’t help the situation. ‘Stay alert’ was changed to ‘stay elitist’ on social media, and it wasn’t hard to understand why. It wasn’t hard to understand people’s frustrations.

It isn’t hard either to understand the scenes in Minneapolis and in other US cities. Rioting and looting are the language of the unheard, and it is has been too common a scene on American streets down the years. When it comes to race, people don’t forget.

America is obviously crying out for strong leadership, but instead it has Donald J Trump talking about shooting people and boasting about what the National Guard could do to make the streets safe again.

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Short term, it might work. Long term, it requires a president with compassion and a moral compass. What it doesn’t require is someone shooting off knee-jerk social media soundbites which will only fan the flames licking around Minneapolis buildings right now.

Like Derek Chauvin, like the LAPD in 1991, like Dom Cummings, Trump is also guilty of abusing his power. Lest we forget, you reap what you sow.

God bless America.