Chamberlain

Donald Trump's recent collaboration in genocide has been compared a number of times this week to the behavior of English Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain toward Adolf Hitler in the runup to the Second World War, which has become a symbol of craven capitulation.  I thought it would be a good time to mention something about this behavior which I learned while at the University of Cambridge, and which is not generally understood.

Chamberlain's failure to do anything to build up Britain's military. faced with a threat from Nazi Germany, culminating in his famous meeting in Munich, where he gave Czechoslovakia to Hitler for nothing in return, has now been compared to Trump's betrayal of our Kurdish allies in the face of demands from the Turkish dictator.  This behavior on Chamberlain's part has been generally attributed to a combination of cowardice and a sort of Pollyannaish naivete regarding Hitler's promises.  This, as I have learned, is false.

The famous moment when Chamberlain promised his people that he had averted World War II

What virtually everyone, at least in this country, forgets about Chamberlain is the most significant fact about him:  He was a Conservative, he acted like a Conservative and he dealt with the Nazi threat like a Conservative.  There was a single factor that led Chamberlain to leave Britain nearly defenseless against German attack: a military buildup would require raising taxes, and Chamberlain was afraid that his party's right wing base would vote them out of power if they raised taxes.

Conservatism: the same in all places and all times, and just as malignant at every turn.

Comments

joseph said…
There is an argument for Chamberlain. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2013/09/neville-chamberlain-was-right-to-cede-czechoslovakia-to-adolf-hitler-seventy-five-years-ago-the-british-prime-signed-the-munich-pact.html
That said, Trump does not have Chamberlain's justification and Chamberlain was certainly more competent than Trump. Of course, so is my dog.
October 19, 2019 at 5:34 PM
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