When Peter Rachman was demobbed from the 2nd Polish Corps in 1948 after fighting for the Allies in WW2, he did not expect his name to enter the Oxford English Dictionary.
Having settled in Britain, Rachman built a property empire based on prostitution, subdividing houses into flats to dodge rent controls and overcharging West Indian migrants. He had affairs with Profumo scandal girls Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies and was pally with mobsters, the Kray twins.
His unwitting legacy was the 1965 Rent Act introducing security of tenure so his kind could never operate so brutally again - and the word ‘Rachmanism’ to describe slum landlords exploiting and terrorising their tenants.
Donald Trump bears few resemblances to Peter Rachman other than ruthless ambition, though he may also leave a word behind him.
Trumpism possibly, Or Trumple perhaps, which is what he does to anyone who gets in his way. Could a Trumper come to mean something other than the sound a whoopee cushion makes when sat upon? And will Trumpery be what in future we call nonsensical rants written ALL IN CAPITALS on Truth Social?
History may look upon Trump the same way he looks upon himself - as a mastermind - Nigel Nelson
GB News/Getty Images
It may turn out that no extra letters will be added to his name at all, and instead calling someone a Trump will become the ultimate insult.
Of course, there’s always the alternative. History’s assessment of the current US President may turn out to be the same as his own - A GENIUS. A MASTERMIND. THE TOPMOST, BESTEST EVER LEADER IN THE UNIVERSE.
But that will depend on how the world settles once Mr Trump has finished upending it. I concede the mates rates he has given us with 10 per cent tariffs is a Brexit bonus. If we were still in the EU we’d be hit with double.
But even 10 per cent is bad news for the 14,000 British firms which trade with the US. Keir Starmer threw a few titbits the car industry’s way - easing emission rules on high-end gas guzzlers and white van man’s vans. But manufacturers say that’s nowhere near enough.
It could be that Americans will turn on Mr Trump long before our own government does if warnings from the bosses of the Federal Reserve and JP Morgan Chase, the biggest bank in America, come true.
They predict higher inflation and lower growth and the likelihood of recession - which, according to some economists, America is already in.
Mr Trump’s only achievement so far when it comes to redistributing wealth is to wipe $10trillion off worldwide equity markets. And make his mate Elon Musk $135billion poorer.
That could put US pensions in jeopardy and, so Bloomberg reports, retirees are already raiding their pension pots for emergency cash. One Wall Street mover and shaker said the US is heading for “a self-induced, economic nuclear winter.”
There’s a gloomy knock-on effect for the rest of the world, including us. The President of the United States now appears to have more clout in British policy making than the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Donald Trump seems to have more influence on British policy making than Keir Starmer.
Getty Images
We were expecting a White Paper on immigration with changes to the points-based visa system, but that has been postponed to at least next month because of its potential negative effect on top of tariffs on businesses employing foreign workers.
The Chagos Islands deal appears to have been approved by Washington, but no one in Whitehall is entirely sure whether the President has seen it, and if he’s seen it whether he understood it, and if he understood it, whether he’s agreed it.
See. We can’t even give our own stuff away without Mr Trump’s say-so.
But there are other worries, too, though I hesitate to mention net zero. When I did, GB News presenter Martin Daubney said it made me sound like a cult. At least, I think that’s the word he used.
Last year was the hottest on record and carbon emissions hit 50 per cent above pre-industrial levels so there’s no time to lose.
But oil industry insiders tell me Mr Trump has put net zero back ten years with his “drill, baby, drill”, which is a pity because the fossil fuel big boys were already ahead of schedule.
Investment and research in biofuels and renewable electricity was moving at pace with Shell on track to halve operational emissions and be methane net zero by 2030.
BP was also doing well until it backtracked on some of its green goals earlier this year and will now produce 60 per cent more oil and gas than originally planned. The 2050 target date for net zero now feels further off than 25 years..
You don’t hear Rachmanism being spoken of much in today’s world. And if tomorrow’s world roasts, Trumpism won’t be heard either.
