What do you think of Donald Trump? Is it true that he and Boris Johnson are very good friends? Is their political vision similar or not?

Jean-Marie Valheur

They’re not ‘good friends’ by a long shot. In fact Boris Johnson has very little in common with Donald Trump, aside from the silly hair and the much younger wife. The main thing that sets the two men apart is… intelligence. While I am not a big fan of Johnson’s politics, the man is definitely intelligent.

Johnson actually wrote books. Johnson actually had countless affairs and relationships with women he got due to his wit — it can’t have been his looks! — and not his money. He didn’t have ghost writers, he himself wrote, and when he did, it was fairly eloquent and, at times, even excellent. Johnson is entertaining as much in speech as he is in written form, whereas Trump, though an entertaining public speaker and a reasonable stand-up comedian, has the writing skills of a fourth grader.

In terms of political vision, there isn’t really one for the two men to share. Boris Johnson actually is a man with a poplitical vision. He has views, and he has a political idol in the form of Sir Winston Churchill, whom he adores and attempts (poorly?) to emulate. Trump, on the other hand, is his own greatest idol, his own enigma, his own biggest inspiration. He loves to debate, to heckle, to argue and to amass power, but once he has it, seems rather aimless and all over the place.

Furthermore, Donald Trump’s older brother died of alcoholism and Donald vowed never to drink alcohol after that. Whereas Boris Johnson is a notorious drinker. The two have little in common that would unite them into a friendship and I cannot imagine Boris hanging out with a teetotaler who only eats McDonalds.