Facts are changing, so must our views

WE will know, early next week, if the fear and the disappointment that swept Donald Trump into the White House and that swept Britain — probably — out of the European Union were isolated game-changers or early warnings of a gathering storm.

We will know if the constituency that has spent so much energy and credibility arguing that Fidel Castro’s achievements — they were considerable — justified his tyrannical suppression of opposition will have to wonder again where it all went so terribly wrong. That constituency’s fear, and the fears of the wider world, are exacerbated by president-elect Trump’s appointment of James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis as America’s secretary of defence. Mr Trump’s endorsement — “He’s our best. They say he’s the closest thing to General George Patton that we have” — is another frightening example of the property developer’s dangerous ignorance. The dust had hardly settled on WWII’s catastrophe, when Patton had to be forcibly restrained. He wanted to immediately attack Russia and start World War III. Had he, rather than Marshall, prevailed, what a very different world this would be.

Those ghosts will especially haunt Austria tomorrow, as it elects a new president. Those same ghosts will be present at a Sunday referendum in Italy, but will probably cast a lighter shadow over it. Austria, if the polls are correct, is about to become the first European country to elect a hard-right leader since the post-war period. Italy, again if the polls are correct, is about to turn a referendum into a damning mid-term judgement of prime minister, Matteo Renzi. The referendum, aimed at streamlining government, accelerating reform, and rejuvenating the economy, is seen as a vote on Renzi’s government’s steadfast commitment to the European project, despite more tough love than seems bearable.