The oddest thing is happening in Britain: Donald Trump is becoming popular. The man was almost universally abhorred during his first term. Leftists loathed him, naturally. But so did most rightists, partly for his character and partly for his policies, above all his soft spot for Vladimir Putin, his ambivalence about NATO, and his hankering after tariffs.

Shortly after the 2016 election, a famous British historian was addressing a conservative think tank in New York and made some (by British standards) mild jokes about the new president. It prompted a walkout. Even then, a cult was forming around the new president, a cult that tolerated no criticism. British conservatives soon learned to steer off the subject when in the company of our American friends.