Gunnar wrote: ↑Wed Jul 21, 2021 8:01 am
In your opinion, are Boris Johnson's core supporters in the UK as impervious to reason in the face of mounting evidence of malfeasance and corruption as are Trump's core supporters?
I think on the whole not. People who voted Conservative at the last election did so in large part because the Labour Party leader (Jeremy Corbyn) was unimpressive to say the least. There is no major group whose loyalty to him is policy-based, apart from those who believed his promise to 'get Brexit [UK leaving the EU] done' - which he did by making a very incomplete deal with the EU, some of which he is now having to try to undo. Some people like him because they think he is 'a bit of a laugh'. There may also be some vague remnants amongst older people of deference to the voice of the 'officer class'.
And would Johnson be anywhere near as adamant as Trump is that the election was fraudulently stolen from him, should he lose the next election?
And is there any chance that he would ever try to incite a Jan 6 type insurrection in order to stay in office?
No to both. The custom in the UK is that the Prime Minister resigns as soon as it is clear he has lost the election - which is usually obvious by the early hours of the day after election day, and that the Queen then sends for whoever else it is (often the Leader of the Opposition) who can command a majority in the House of Commons and thus form a functioning government. If he attempted to avoid doing that in the face of a clear result, many in his own party would cease to support him. If there is an unclear result, a prime minister can try to make coalition deals with other parties for a few days, and only resign if that fails. Also, the election is run nationally, so that local practice in terms of postal votes etc. is uniform.
Is he anywhere near as demonstrably stupid and ignorant as Trump?
I almost wish he was: however, he uses such intelligence as he has solely for the purpose of self-advancement. Fortunately he hates having to work hard or make difficult decisions, so he does not get a lot of benefit from his mental resources in political terms.