By Helen Reynolds
In a stunning display of international solidarity, Boris Johnson has urged Europe to unite – if only to help Donald Trump clean up the mess he so energetically made.
When Boris Johnson weighed in on the growing tensions in the Middle East, his message was striking not for its urgency, but for its framing. Rather than examining how the situation emerged from a series of disruptive decisions, Johnson turned his attention squarely to those now unwilling to help resolve it. This selective emphasis reveals a deeper, recurring pattern in conservative rhetoric, where the spotlight shifts away from causation and toward compliance.
It is a familiar pattern with conservatives. Responsibility is not denied outright, but gently displaced – shifted from those who act boldly and often unilaterally to those who hesitate or raise concerns. The burden, in the end, falls not on the architects of crisis, but on those unwilling to endorse or repair it. In this telling, accountability becomes optional, and consequence something to be shared rather than owned by the original decision-makers.
“We should have been there,” Mr Johnson said. “The fact is, our team captain, Trump, has made a big mistake, right? And what does the team do? “Does the team tell the team captain, ‘Go to hell, we have nothing to do with you?’ Or does it try to help solve the problem?”
This rhetorical sleight-of-hand has deep roots in conservative political philosophy. It echoes a long-standing instinct to celebrate bold, often impulsive action as inherently virtuous and decisive, while portraying caution, criticism, or multilateral restraint as moral failure, weakness, or even appeasement. Trump’s approach – marked by impulsive decisions, the withdrawal from international commitments, and a willingness to upend long-standing alliances – created fractures that now demand collective repair. Yet rather than interrogate the wisdom of those original choices, Johnson’s intervention reframes hesitation as the true betrayal. Europe, in this script, must step forward not out of genuine partnership, but to subsidise the cost of American exceptionalism run amok, effectively bailing out the very disruptions many conservatives once enthusiastically cheered.
This is not simply about one remark or one moment. It reflects a broader shift in modern political culture, where power increasingly insulates itself from consequence. When figures like Boris Johnson speak this way about the actions of Donald Trump, they are not just offering commentary – they are reinforcing a convenient norm. A norm in which disruption is excused as strength, fallout is collectivised, and those who question either are cast as obstacles rather than responsible participants in a shared international order. It is a subtle but significant inversion: the problem is no longer the crisis itself, but the refusal to legitimise it after the fact.
In that inversion lies the real danger – not the making of the mess, but the expectation that others must quietly accept it, absorb its costs, and pretend the original recklessness was statesmanship all along. This mindset risks normalising a cycle where accountability evaporates and the world’s repair bill is forever passed to the cautious rather than the reckless.
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Excellent in reasoning and expression, the article informs us of much; B Johnson is a jolly joke, thus a damaging egofixated publicity seeking fool doing insult and injury, not offering sense, even remorse, an airhead. He was probably the worst and least talented since…Ramsay Mc Donald, who had no chance really. Boris Bonkfist had chances laid on and stuffed up his nation, failed in duty, shirked work, grinned to get a clap. But the Trump rubbish heap must be faced, cleaned up, though not by an autowhitewashing peanut who was and is unfit to nag us.
Boris who?
It is a matter of argument which political leader, TACO Trumpery, the wrecker of the Free World Economy, or Boris the BREXIT Burden, is the least competent elected leader. Well, that is a little simplistic given the inept disasters elected by the Conservatives after Boris.
However, I digress …. When has English ”leadership” in a crisis ever been effective??
In WWI the English High Command orchestrated the wholesale industrial slaughter of too many fine Australian soldiers because the English officers were incompetent.
In 1960s when England abandoned the Empire by joining the European Common Market, now European Union, Australia’s role as a major food supplier to England was dropped like a hot potato, at great cost to Australian primary producers already battling the worst drought in a century.
The ”defence” of Singapore 1942 when the English Lieutenant General Arthur Percival surrendered after only seven (7) days to the Japanese Army that had advanced down the Malay Peninsular on bicycles to attack from the unexpected and unprepared land side of Singapore Island. Again, too many fine Australian soldiers and nurses were killed in action or executed after surrender.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Singapore
The testing of the atomic bomb in South Australia in 1950s showed absolute contempt for Indigenous Aborigines living peacefully on their lands, so they were considered suitable test subjects for the then unknown impact of radiation on human bodies. The denial by the English government of radiation sickness and other now described PTSD illnesses in Australian service personnel impacted during their military service continues today.
My mate Blind Freddie says that he can see a trend in this evidence that the English politicians believe that they are ”always correct” and certainly always right (wing) in their dealings with the world.
Perhaps this is a hangover from the 300 years when they ruled the seas, (except when the Dutch merchantmen gave them a regular hiding).
Team captains would get sacked for far less.
Trump as team captain has proved complete incompetence and negligence. Not only that, but he has been a bully, destroying other good people in the team on the way.
Any self-respecting team would force him out in utter disgrace, not make excuses to support him.
Further a team captain that is embezzling the club would quickly be shown out with no support.
In UK and Australia, Trump (or any US president) is NOT our team captain. That is a treasonous thought.
Thanks Helen, your article is a profound analysis of how conservative philosophy distorts, and inverts reality in the pursuit of silencing dissent.
So the Pommie version of the Mad Monk has decided to stick his psychotic hair into the fray now and speak gibberish.
Eloquently written, Helen.
Brilliant analysis indeed! Full marks!
It would be nice to know who the author is (details etc. I mean)
Johnson….. same as another Brexit proponent Tony Abbott turns up in interview on ‘Hungarian Conservative’ the other week (listened to by 28 ppl…..)
To be fair he was robust in his support for Ukraine as opposed to the PM ‘mini Putin’ Orbán, and need for nations to cooperate on economics and commerce, to the point that he was explaining the benefits of the EU; quickly checked himself ‘but not like the EU!’.
Fascinating as tier one RWNJ three amigos Trump, Netanyahu and Putin, their putative allies in the background, are getting a whiff of eg Hungary, working age and younger have come out with their ‘baseball bats’ encouraging humility and ‘reverse ferrets’?
@GL:
Speaking of gibberish, Angus Taylor – Opposition racist policy as co-reported – got a right drubbing from over 1K commenters this morning on SMH.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/angus-taylor-claims-too-many-self-serving-migrants-are-draining-the-nation-20260413-p5znh9.html
Who got Boris off the rack? Everything ends up down the gurgler bleached with a bit of rubbing from Boris-the-dishmop. Who or what is he sucking off now? Back to the rack with you, Boris.
BTW. Fine article, thanks Helen.