Wake up, Britain: Donald Trump’s US is no friend of ours. We must secure our own place in the world | Simon Jenkins

The US president is ever more wayward - and has little interest in defending Europe. The constitution may hold him to account, but we can't wait

If Americans vote for a Republican majority in both houses of Congress in November, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000." But they must not spend it in Canada or China or anywhere else outside the US. So said Donald Trump in Texas on Wednesday in advance of the forthcoming midterm elections. He further told voters to Pretend that I'm on the ballot". It was a climactic moment in an almost two-hour rant.

Trump does not have the required trillion dollars in his pocket, and it would be illegal to disperse such a sum without congressional approval. In any case, JD Vance now appears to have rowed back on the promise.

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist