Boris Johnson, Britain’s Trump clone, a bad choice to resolve the Brexit riddle | Trudy Rubin

“They call him Britain Trump,” President Trump said when Boris Johnson, the mop-haired, womanizing showman was chosen this week as prime minister of our closest ally.

Indeed, there are stunning similarities between the two men beyond their poofy blond coiffures: in their famous disregard for the truth, in their personal life, in their ability to gloss over failures in their previous careers, and much more.

The most fascinating parallel, however, which may determine BoJo’s fate, is his confidence that he can close deals no one else can. Like Trump, who has failed to conclude any “deals of the century,” Johnson promises the moon: either to force the European Union to accept his terms or take Britain out of the EU with no deal and no harm to the economy.

“The doubters, doomsters, gloomsters are going to get it wrong again,” Johnson pronounced as he arrived at the prime minister’s residence at Ten Downing Street. He promised that, with him in the lead, Britain will Brexit the European Union on October 31, “no ifs, ands or buts." That is the EU deadline by which London must agree on divorce terms.

His chance of success with either option equal the odds of Trump bringing peace to the Middle East. But if Boris bollixes Brexit, the repercussions will be felt all the way to America’s shores.

To understand the odds, it helps to know a bit about how Boris ascended to his new post and how his similarities to Trump got him there.

Under the British parliamentary system, the head of the party that forms the government automatically becomes prime minister. Conservative party members voted for Boris to replace Theresa May when she failed to finalize a Brexit. In effect, he was chosen for Britain’s highest office by less than one percent of British voters, a cohort that skewed older, white, and hostile to the EU.

“Only a dysfunctional political culture could conclude that a showman with such limited ability, such disqualifying flaws and such a meagre track record is the man to lead its government at this dangerous moment,” wrote the Irish Times.

Like Trump, Johnson built his popularity with his base by a willingness to smash political norms.

In his first career as a journalist, he was fired for making up quotes and famous for falsifying stories. “I was Boris Johnson’s boss: he is utterly unfit to be prime minister,” wrote Max Hastings, a former editor at The Guardian.

As mayor of London, BoJo wasted monstrous sums on vanity projects (Boris buses, garden bridges) that failed or never were built. As foreign minister, he was known for his many gaffes and utter disinterest in detail (sound familiar?).

He rose to his present post after leading a campaign of lies for Leave in the 2016 referendum on Brexit, making false claims that hordes of Muslim refugees were invading Britain, and that a British exit would produce a cash windfall for Britain’s National Health Service.

Yet unlike Trump, Johnson is a jokester, an Oxford elitist who cultivates a fuzzy image as a lovable eccentric, called BoJo or Boris. This has helped him gloss over gaffes and racist statements, and a Trumpian personal life filled with affairs and divorces.

“Boris is very funny, larger than life, semi-outrageous, and not devoid of empathy,” explains Thomas Wright, director of the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution.

”He is an opportunist, a lot more moderate than a Trump would be, on things like climate change, or dealing with Iran, or public spending. He is a bit of an unusual member of the populist club.”

However, BoJo the showman has boxed himself into a political corner with his stance on Brexit.

EU officials disdain Johnson and won’t let him renegotiate a “better deal” on his terms. Nor will the current British parliament endorse his alternative plan: an economically dangerous no-deal Brexit. A crash-out from the EU would weaken America’s closest political and military ally and shake markets.

The only likely alternatives are a new referendum — which Boris and his Conservative backers oppose — or new elections. Here is where the parallels with the U.S. become really sad.

In a rational world, if Boris is forced to call an election, one would expect a smashing victory for the Labour opposition. But Labour’s leader — the old-school left-wing populist Jeremy Corbyn — has so divided his own party and alienated centrists that few think Labour would win.

So a British populist, known for lies, lechery, and failures, could still beat a leftist opposition bent on self-destruction. Unless British centrist third parties can absorb disgusted Conservative and Labourite moderates, and carry off a historic upset.

In that case, Britain would be escaping the BoJo-Trump trap and setting an example their one-time colony should heed.