Brexitology: Everybody Get Trumped
First, “Brexit” is one of the least clever mashups ever. It’s simply dreadful and I cannot wait until it goes away. It’s an aural assault that is both annoying and unavoidable. Additionally, Boris Johnson needs a haircut. Plain and simple. He looks like a buffoon and should never be allowed to lead anything with that haircut.
Today, Donald Trump and his grossly misshapen cap, from his perch in Scotland, applauded the final vote on Britain’s exit from the EU. Of course, he blamed it on President Obama, and likened it to the current state of politics in the US.
The message was “See, we can be nationalists! The British are taking their country back! You can too! Obama is so bad he screwed their country up too!”
I do not pretend to be an expert on the EU. I have posted a couple of good articles below for reference. One from the WSJ discusses the British exit being no surprise given the overbearing nature of the EU. The central idea is that the Brits believe they can manage globalization and free trade better by themselves. It’s hard to agree since they basically invented it.
Brexit — A Very British Revolution
The second, an article from Harvard Business Review, essentially paints Britain as the runt brother of Europe for most of history. Until the British figured out how to master the seas, and spread their empire through globalization and trade, they were invaded/conquered pretty regularly throughout time. This “Brexit” is a revolt against European hegemony, but don’t fear. Europe and Britain have had a symbiotic relationship for thousands of years that will not end now.
A Brief History of Britain’s Relation Ship with Europe Starting in 6000 BCE
My view is that we won’t know the results for years. We will see whether Europe needed Britain more or vice versa. I think the remain crowd fundamentally misses the fact that Britain has a really, really long history without being a member of the EU.
The UK itself has been in existence for 300 years. So associated with medieval history is Britain nearly all movies and shows depicted in the past are portrayed by British actors or with a British accent!
There are a significant number of people alive today that remember a Britain without the EU and think they were better off without it.
While pundits in the US try desperately to either link Trump’s US strategy to Brexit or decouple it completely, there are a couple of parallels:
- The Voters: Uneducated older white males are predominately responsible for carrying the populist, nativist, and bigoted message that Trump is selling. Beat back the establishment, get rid of the immigrants, destroy the bad deals, take your country back. The sentiment in Europe is not as caustic as it is in the US, but the divide in the electorate is similar.
- Trump being Trump: Like with all other things, Trump can’t help but self congratulate. Like a gypsy fortune teller.. He “said they should do it” and they did. So, great job Britain. We will see how well that goes when Scotland and Ireland vote to dissolve the UK too.
- The people decided: This is the most important parallel with Trump. The people decided via referendum that Britain should leave the EU. The “establishment”, as they are, has not come back and declared the people stupid. David Cameron is resigning and the will of the people is served — for better or worse.
We pretty well know that Trump is going to lose this election. It is because he is a deplorable human and a worse candidate. He is two pivots too late. He is behind the curve and the only surprise will be if he finds a way to make it close. The GOP can only hope the down ballot destruction does not follow.
To deny him the candidacy that he rightfully won through what we know commonly as our primary process would be the same as if the “elites” in London decided they didn’t want to Brexit. The GOP played with fire and now must eat it. Craft your cohesive vision for the future, find a good candidate, eliminate the bigotry in the underbelly. Try again in 2020.
SCOTUS be damned, let the will of the people be done.
