The mood surrounding Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday is very different from the first time round. In 2017 there were liberals in the United States and around the world who behaved as if we were in the end times. They braced themselves for all manner of wickedness – and then the world continued to turn on its axis; nothing much changed.
Mr Trump did not impose tariffs on imports from other countries. He did not build very much of the wall on the southern border of the US. Mexico did not pay for the 47 miles that he did build. He did not shut the US’s borders to Muslims. He did not withdraw from Nato.
