So Long, Boris

A day after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced hat he would fight on, he finally gave in.  He resigned his office on Thursday.  His last-minute defiance suggested the idea of Robert E. Lee vowing to fight on for the Southern cause on April 8, 1865.

The Prime Minister decided to call it quits after one British Cabinet secretary after another handed in their resignations.  The Tories were beginning to desert him left and right; ironically, they had lost confidence in him after he won a "no confidence" vote.  Johnson's resignation also means that he is stepping down as leader of the Conservative Party, so a replacement for both of his positions is due soon. It is likely that the policies of the Tory government will continue for now, most importantly the policy of aid to Ukraine.

It is wall good and fine to think that Britain can move on calmly into the future without the whiff of scandal or incompetence, but as I noted last month, many of Johnson's anti-democratic measures may remain in place.  But Johnson's resignation and his ability to move on to the next stage of his life without regret are still preferable in comparison to Donald Trump's refusal to hit the showers.  Johnson said he was not indispensable; Trump, with his Reggie Mantle-type superiority complex, believes that the Republic and the Republicans will fall without him.  The Tories, recognizing Johnson's baggage, decided that ending their support for him was the only way to save the party; in America, the GOP has only doubled down on supporting Trump despite his mishandling of COVID and his attempt to overthrow the government because, well, he helped get Roe v. Wade overturned, he stuck it to the Iranians, and he lives rent-free in the Democrats' heads.  The Tories are sane enough not to stick with Johnson; the Republicans are too zonkers to abandon Trump.

What happens in both Britain and America now is anyone's guess.