The central theme of Donald Trump’s campaign, his inaugural address and his actions since assuming the presidency is to Make America Great Again. When politicians speak of greatness, they usually mean power. They tend to speak of it with persistence precisely when they have a sense of losing power. Sometimes it is nostalgia for a lost self; sometimes it is for lost privileges. This was true of the British in the later stages of their empire. They built their imposing imperial monuments, like the Viceregal Lodge, following the First World War, when the end of the empire was clearly fated. The wall Trumps wants to build on America’s southern border, if built, will be the product of the same great anxiety and the same sense of loss.

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