FT - There is no such thing as a Trump whisperer

Western leaders who are said to be on special terms with the US president have nothing to show for it



It is not even one of the better Robert Redford films. In The Horse Whisperer, the ageing dreamboat coaxes an injured animal back to action through some mysterious personal rapport. This piece of 1990s mid-budget fluff inspired a new phrase in political discourse — to be someone’s “whisperer” is to have unusual sway with them — but for years it was understood to be ironic. It is now used in all seriousness. Giorgia Meloni, who gets on with Donald Trump to absolutely no discernible benefit to her, Italy or Ukraine, is the latest western leader to be credited with a unique hold over him.

Can we stop doing this? Trump-whispering should be judged on its record of results. That record is almost non-existent. Emmanuel Macron was among the first to cultivate the US president. Quick to perceive Trump’s liking for quasi-monarchical flummery, he even hosted him at the Bastille Day parade of 2017. For a sense of how well this has worked for the French leader, consider that he proposed this month a freeze on European investments in America.

As for Britain, Theresa May was one of several prime ministers to abase themselves (which they are free to do) and their nation (of which they are mere custodians) for a US trade deal. That deal is still to materialise as the Brexit decennial looms next year. Boris Johnson, who really does have things in common with Trump, lobbied him to support Ukraine even after stepping down as prime minister. It was honourable. It was useless.

Japan is another nation assumed to have special insight into the Trump psyche, ever since his golf rounds with the late Shinzo Abe. Its cars face 25 per cent US tariffs. Its American security guarantee, on which it has counted since 1951, is worth who knows what now.

/snip