Jamie Gavin

What will it mean for the UK and the world outside America that Donald Trump is now surrounded and hemmed in by a Congress that opposes him and his major policies and by world leaders who mostly feel the same? More specifically, will it embolden Andy Burnham, the leaders of the EU, Canada, Japan and their allies to cooperate with the Democrats in the Senate and the House to do what it takes to end Trump’s war against Iran, to bring Putin to the negotiating table, to reduce prosperity-destroying tariffs, to contain the extreme risks of artificial intelligence and in general to temper Trump’s reckless adventurism? The paralysis of the rest of the planet in the face of Trump’s unilateralism must surely be at an end. His moral authority, his claim to lead the free world, is much diminished. That is not in doubt now the American legislature is decisively set against him, and after American voters have spoken unambiguously that they reject most of what he has done in office that has a direct impact not only them but on us. America’s soaring gasoline price, that magnified his unpopularity, is just one narrow proxy of the wider harm he wreaked, to security and stability. Weakened too is his power. We will see whether he and a Democrat Congress can work together constructively. The presidential veto, and their control over important appointments and money mean they have to try to get along. But even if the result is stalemate, that is almost certainly better for global prosperity than what we’ve been living through. Much has been torn down overnight. What is striking is how many people have contacted me with gasps of relief and hope that I last recall when the Berlin Wall was demolished (I am not exaggerating - Trump insinuated his way into our collective subconscious, mostly as a bringer of a humming anxiety). There are risks that a wounded Trump will attempt to lash out in ways that deflect from his humiliation. And given his relative autonomy in foreign affairs, the consequences may not be benign. But even so, today is about opportunity, not fear.