For subscribers
America’s barbarians inside the gates
No ideological code can fully capture US President Donald Trump’s actions.
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
US President Donald Trump’s caprice makes it impossible for his explainers to keep pace, says the writer.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
Edward Luce
Follow topic:
Historical sensibility tells us it is the barbarians who storm the gates. In today’s America, it is the other way round. Inside the citadel, the hordes are incinerating America’s traditions of law, civility and restraint. The civic-minded cry in the wilderness.
Measured by the old era’s conventions, US President Donald Trump’s bonfire is only a quarter of the way through. Like so much else – the US Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Center, the Versailles-style White House ballroom, other people’s Nobel Prizes

