Why I'm Off the Fence About Trump

Megyn Kelly vs Bill Maher & My 2 Weeks in America Did It For This Liberal Brit

Donald Trump…and the proverbial fence

Before I get into Trump, let me introduce myself.

I'm a liberal.

At least, I think I am.

If this were the 90s, liberals might herald me as an archetype.

Today, liberals think I am a Nazi.

Like, an actual Nazi.

Book shops and festivals disinvite me from speaking about my book, The Psychology of Secrets. TV execs no longer welcome my documentaries. Theatres won't even allow me to do live events on their stages.

Even this past week, several audio production companies rejected me - despite my podcast getting big numbers - because I'm a Nazi (the term they use is: 'misaligned values').

Yet, I remain - unlike many Trumpers (but perhaps more than we expect) - atheist, pro-choice, pro-gay marriage and, most controversially for my audience, pro-vax. I'm Jewish; I love nothing more than chicken soup with a side of jab. Except, actually, no chicken soup. To the chagrin even of my podcast peers (I'm looking at you, Konstantin and Francis), I'm a vege-fucking-tarian.

I know. I'm sorry. After six years living in Buenos Aires, I could no longer stomach meat.

But I'd rather eat one of those still-somehow-alive-and-kicking frog legs than vote for Kamala.

Why am I off the fence about Trump?

I loved a recent viral article and video by

Konstantin Kisin

about his self-removal from a fence; that one being about Israel. Wanting to distinguish my article from his, I searched for other ways to write that I was "off the fence" regarding Trump.

• "I've made up my mind."

• "I've taken a position."

• "I'm clear on where I stand."

All of these felt too purposeful and deliberate for my position on Trump, which feels more innocuous, as though I fell into it.

I can't describe myself as MAGA and won't be wearing a red cap. I find nostalgic pining for a country's greatness leads to unreliable recollections. Was America really 'great' when it kept slaves or when it deprived black people of civil rights? I accept that we must view a country within the context of its time, and so America was perhaps great relative to other nations.

But we now inhabit a different time. I want to look forward, not to the past.

Trump is brash and unstatesmanlike. He has baggage. And, despite speaking against the establishment - he is very much of it. He gloats, he exaggerates. It’s not very British to confess admiration for Trump.

Despite this, I find him funny and charismatic. I fell over laughing at his stand-up routine about straws to the backdrop of Seinfeld music.

His rudeness and sense of humour are a perfect antidote to the humourless grey blob of woke authoritarianism. These may seem like superficial elements, but the lack of humour in Leftism is a feature, not a bug.

Also: before his stint in 2016, Hollywood celebrities did a video about how famous they all were, and how Trump would fire the nuclear weapons. Well, he didn’t. So, now what?

Anyway, here's what Trump did that finally took me off the fence about him.