Like so many others, I waited, almost impatiently, for Andy Divine’s latest encyclical! Brexit by way of Trump/Boris is placed under his critical gaze, with the help of David Frum’s intervention. Proving that ‘Conservatism’ has reached, not just a point of collapse, but that its ideologists seek solace in nihilistic self-congratulation. Just read Andy’s evocative first paragraph:

So much has happened in the time since I last wrote in this space. And yet so very little. Things are proceeding very, very quickly in these fetid times. And yet, beneath the surface, they are also going very, very slowly.

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/10/andrew-sullivan-the-difference-between-boris-and-trump.html

A faint echo of: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…?  In Andy’s first  paragraph antitheses take the rhetorical lead. ( Trump/Boris)! As the lead player in his essays, Andy’s self-conception as political prophet determines all else.

That is a match with Frum’s latest political evolution as  Wise Republican Elder. In the watershed of the Tea Party, that inaugurated the Age of Trump, Frum represents a Neo-Conservatism whose mendacity has been outdone by a Game Show Host! As usual with Andy’s proclamations, my patience is easily exhausted.

Political Cynic

P.S. Andy puts his political cards on the table, in this paragraph:

Look: I supported Remain in the Brexit referendum. I even remember as a kid wearing a “Britain in Europe” button to school during the original 1975 referendum campaign. I backed the liberal, pro-E.U. Toryism of David Cameron and George Osborne, and didn’t support a referendum on E.U. membership. I think Britain’s departure from the E.U. will lead to a tangible if manageable loss of future economic growth, hurt industry, stress-test the U.K. as a single entity, and hit the financial sector. I don’t want the U.K. to crash out of the E.U. without a deal, and would do what I could, if I were in Parliament, to prevent it. I can see the arguments for the Remain cause, as they have operated until now. Many Remainers are my friends and in my family. If a referendum were to be held for the first time tomorrow, I’d still vote to Remain.