Irish Examiner view: US move on defence bill is better late than never

It is always dangerous to count early summer swallows, or eggs before they are hatched. However, yesterday’s decision by 109 Republicans to join Democrats in America’s House of Representatives to override President Trump’s dying-wasp veto of a $741bn defence bill must encourage the hope that America’s politicians have rediscovered the value of working together and pulled back from avoidable but deepening chaos.

The Senate is expected to follow suit later this week, making this Congress’s first such rebuke of the Trump presidency, which has only three weeks to run. 

If such spectacular expenditure on defence is at least eyebrow-raising, even if Europe hypocritically relies on it to an inordinate degree, that old saw seems appropriate: Better late than never. 

Trump exercised his veto last week, partially because of the proposal to rename 10 military bases honouring Confederate leaders.

Nevertheless, any joy at this renewed collegiality must be tempered by the fact that those same Republicans remained silent so many times when they could have prevented one attack on long-held and cherished principles after another.