STEVE HILTON: The twin fortune of Johnson and Trump is a tale of two witch hunts

When a young Boris Johnson charted his path to becoming “world king,” he never imagined that his destiny would be intertwined with a brash New York real estate magnate who would go on to become president of the United States.

And yet here we are.

By a remarkable coincidence, the two men whose fortunes first collided in 2016, when they led unexpected populist triumphs in Britain and the US, are now being similarly humiliated on the same day.

Even more striking is the almost identical way in which Johnson and Donald Trump responded.

Johnson used Trump’s favorite term—”witch hunt”—to denounce his tormentors.

Besides berating Harriet Harman for “deeply biased comments about my guilt” and chief of inquiry Sue Gray for her political bias, Boris’ most Trumpy part was his swipe at a lawyer advising Ms Gray about her “Partygate” investigation as a “strong Labor supporter who repeatedly tweeted personal attacks on me and the government. A ‘Boris hater’, as Trump would put it succinctly? Critics say narcissism seeps out of both former leaders’ reactions. Still, they do have a point.

Even more striking is the almost identical way in which Johnson and Donald Trump responded. Johnson used Trump’s favorite term—”witch hunt”—to denounce his tormentors

Since those twin shocks to the establishment seven years ago – the Boris-led Brexit vote, followed months later by Trump’s election to the White House – something seems to have snapped.

The vitriol aimed at these two politicians is unprecedented. The truth is that the establishment was most certainly out to get these two rambunctious populist leaders — purely for the audacity to achieve political success on their terms, not the establishment’s.

To the consternation of the elites in London and Washington, Johnson and Trump (ironically, both are members of the elite in their own way) seemed to have an almost mystical appeal to the working class.

They went out of their way to ignore and belittle the norms and conventions of political insiders. They connected with voters while bypassing those insular and arrogant media gatekeepers.

More substantively, they took a revolutionary intellectual challenge against the dominant ideology of the ruling class for the past 40 years – they challenged globalism and its central elements of open borders, free trade and engagement with China.

For all these reasons, Boris Johnson and Donald Trump have built up an army of fiercely loyal fans who not only support them, but love them (as much as their opponents hate them).

That, in turn, helped both men evade their enemies and survive scandals that would have brought normal politicians to the ground.

Until now.

Here we come to the major difference between these two larger than life characters.

Despite all the bravado in his letter of resignation about leaving parliament ‘at least for the time being’, it is difficult to see Johnson become prime minister again.

For Trump, however, each new indictment strengthens him politically.

You may be surprised to learn that a current staple of political commentary in America consists of constitutional pundits assuring a bemused public that there is no reason why Trump cannot be elected, even if convicted.

Or even… wait for it… serve as president from prison.

Yes, we are all heading for a rollercoaster.