Brexit stands as a warning to American conservatives

[drunkenshoe]

Brexit stands as a warning to American conservatives

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/25/brexit-stands-as-a-warning-to-american-conservatives

Donald Trump’s elated that the British people have put xenophobia and fear over their own economic self-interest.

He views the nation’s exit from the EU (that’s the European Union, for those googling it today) as an affirmation of his own hate-fueled immigration proposals from one of America’s closest and oldest allies.

Many of our British brothers and sisters also viewed the vote as a way to close their borders. Even as global markets and the pound sank to depressing lows, Trump embraced the rushed Brexit.

“Come November, the American people will have the chance to re-declare their independence. Americans will have a chance to vote for trade, immigration and foreign policies that put our citizens first,” Trump said at a campaign and golf course christening in Scotland. “They will have the chance to reject today’s rule by the global elite, and to embrace real change that delivers a government of, by and for the people.”


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While Trump has been successful in employing similar fear-based arguments on immigration throughout the Republican party primary, he’s now in the big leagues and has to convince independent voters that his closed-door policies against Mexicans and Muslims are right for what was formerly the most open nation in the world.

The argument is simple, even simplistic: they don’t look, talk or pray like me, and my wallet’s feeling light, so it must be their fault.

Scapegoating comes with promises of gaudy Trump-like Monopoly money. But American voters would be wise to question the gold spray paint covering the package Trump’s selling.

They’d be even wiser to examine the Brexit rhetoric to understand what the Donald is selling.

Within hours of the vote to leave the EU, Nigel Farage, the leader of the UK Independent Party (Ukip), pulled the veil back on the lies that propped up the Leave campaign, especially the pledge that was painted on buses across Britain that the vote would put £350m ($475m) directly into NHS.

“No I can’t [guarantee it], and I would never have made that claim,” Farage revealed on Good Morning Britain. “That was one of the mistakes that I think the Leave campaign made.”

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Just like Farage, Trump is holding a shiny object in one hand â€" his personal wealth, or at least boasts of wealth â€" to distract conservative voters and politicians alike from the race and religion-baiting that enlivens his hardcore base.

I must pause for a minute and admit that as I write this a copy of Mein Kampf stares me in the face. I bought it last week, because to be a professor and political reporter in the era of Trump, one needs to be well versed on historical racism.

And no, this isn’t going to devolve into one of those Hitler comparisons. They’re tired and overused.

But just thumbing through the book as I write this, I’m struck by the mind control employed by the author.

“From day to day I was becoming better informed than my companions in the subjects on which they claimed to be experts,” he writes.

Sound familiar? Trump’s a master of illusions. His reality TV and no-politics brand is built on convincing his audience that he’s the smartest, wealthiest and toughest in the room. He’s said as much so often that even he believes it (if he believes anything at all).

One doesn’t need to reach that far back in history though. In this age of digital distractions we may forget that just months ago Trump struggled to say a disparaging word after he won over the support of David Duke.

It would seem easy, and wise, for the now presumptive Republican presidential nominee to dismiss the support and move on. Trump didn’t. He’s smart, even cunning. He signaled to those bigoted voters that he’s their man.

To know Trump, one also needs to be well versed in today’s racial code words. When Trump calls Mexicans “rapists and murderers”, or promises to ban Muslims from entering the US for that matter, he’s also sending a signal to his white, mostly male supporters.

The scary thing is that, unlike many in the contemporary GOP, Trump doesn’t do that with a sly wink and telling eyebrow raise. On immigration policy, he uses the language many reserve for the back booth at their local pub to attract thousands of cheering fans.

That’s why Brexit isn’t just a pivotal moment for Britain. It should also be a game-changer for conservatives in the US.

Please, never forget Farage’s moment of honesty, after his countrymen disrupted all of Europe and their own bank accounts, about the smokescreen his movement sent up with promises of bags of cash for better healthcare.

“Do you think there are other things the people today will wake up and find out?” the exasperated host asked a smiling Farage.

The answer to that is surely yes.

For conservatives deceiving themselves into supporting Trump for his laughable promises of wealth, they too will wake up the day after Trump enters the White House filled with regret, remorse and bewilderment because they’ll have helped elect a bigot-in-chief who would rather write Trumpland on the White House gates than help unify a country that’s crying out for healing.

[Baruch]

Which lesson?  That PM Cameron shouldn't have given the people a referendum ... for Scotland or for the EU?  I heard there were all sorts of devilish machinations as to why that happened.  I tend to think it was stupid ... don't let people vote, unless you know for sure they will vote the right way.

That American conservatives are mostly S Dem trogs ... just like American liberals are mostly N Rep elitists.  Don't believe any of the labels.  And don't bother with ideology ... Americans are pragmatists, they don't believe in ideology, just practical self interest.

As far as the lesson of too much central power ... the US is already over the horizon on that.

[drunkenshoe]

It's probably the most stupid thing done in the century. The thing is I doubt if he thought this would be the result. Noone should have estimated the power of toxic media campaigns and a culture stupid enough just to read their own.

However, if Trump wins the social reaction would be worse UK and worse than what would happen him winning without the Brexit. People will start to attack nonwhite immigrants and pretty much anyone who doesn't 'look like an American' in their opinion or not a Christian. I'm not talking about the usual stuff. It could get very very bed in a very short time in an armed society.

Other consequences is various from the usual Russian danger and USA losing an active voice and hand in EU.

So if you think this will have no serious effect on the USA, highly unlikely.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

From everything I can gather from my limited exposure to the public in general anymore the us voters aren't really paying one damned bit of attention to what's going on in the UK much less the rest of the world.  Trump could hold up a turd painted yellow and tell people it's gold and most of them are going to bite.. For fucksake, SCOTUS just handed down a decision that for all intends and purposes made bribing public officials perfectly legal and very few people are even aware of it. They vacated the conviction of former Virginia governor McDonnell and said taking brides is fine and dandy. https://www.thenation.com/article/the-supreme-court-that-allowed-corporations-to-buy-elections-has-now-approved-the-bribing-of-governors/

The scariest part is it was a unanimous decision. Now try to imagine how a Trump white house would interpret that ruling..

[Baruch]

It's probably the most stupid thing done in the century. The thing is I doubt if he thought this would be the result. Noone should have estimated the power of toxic media campaigns and a culture stupid enough just to read their own.

However, if Trump wins the social reaction would be worse UK and worse than what would happen him winning without the Brexit. People will start to attack nonwhite immigrants and pretty much anyone who doesn't 'look like an American' in their opinion or not a Christian. I'm not talking about the usual stuff. It could get very very bed in a very short time in an armed society.

Other consequences is various from the usual Russian danger and USA losing an active voice and hand in EU.

So if you think this will have no serious effect on the USA, highly unlikely.

Welcome to the ant farm.  Are you a red ant or a blue ant?  Just don't shake the farm, we don't like that ;-)  Well the stupidest thing done last century, was the British Empire being talked into supporting the French Republic, instead of the German Empire.  That and the Russian Empire agreeing to be allied to the French Republic too.

[Baruch]

From everything I can gather from my limited exposure to the public in general anymore the us voters aren't really paying one damned bit of attention to what's going on in the UK much less the rest of the world.  Trump could hold up a turd painted yellow and tell people it's gold and most of them are going to bite.. For fucksake, SCOTUS just handed down a decision that for all intends and purposes made bribing public officials perfectly legal and very few people are even aware of it. They vacated the conviction of former Virginia governor McDonnell and said taking brides is fine and dandy. https://www.thenation.com/article/the-supreme-court-that-allowed-corporations-to-buy-elections-has-now-approved-the-bribing-of-governors/

The scariest part is it was a unanimous decision. Now try to imagine how a Trump white house would interpret that ruling..

Bribes are an essential aspect of democracy.  President Nixon should never have been ashamed of taking a little money from Howard Hughes.  It is also the law that it is legal for members of Congress to do insider trades in the markets.  The Clinton Foundation is perfectly legal, even if much of the money is foreign origin.  What you are seeing here isn't just one political campaign, it is a failed state.

[stromboli]

If you want a good overview of U.S. politics, read a little Roman history. Back then people lined up outside the Senate and held out money to bribe the Senators as they entered the forum. Wasn't so much back door. special interest with the biggest bribe got the nod.

No different today. Cannabis is not legal largely because the people pushing Oxycontin are all over the place handing out "campaign contributions" And also because the Repubs installed a dipshit know nothing as head of the DEA. The Repubs just killed part of a bill that would have allowed VA doctors to prescribe Cannabis in states where it was legal. Billion dollar pharmaceutical companies line the pockets of politicians regularly. the biggest issue facing the human race right now is climate change, but you see more media coverage of the Kardashians than global warming.

The inmates have been running the asylum for some time.

[drunkenshoe]

^That's so depressing. 

[Flanker1Six]

If you want a good overview of U.S. politics, read a little Roman history. Back then people lined up outside the Senate and held out money to bribe the Senators as they entered the forum. Wasn't so much back door. special interest with the biggest bribe got the nod.

No different today. Cannabis is not legal largely because the people pushing Oxycontin are all over the place handing out "campaign contributions" And also because the Repubs installed a dipshit know nothing as head of the DEA. The Repubs just killed part of a bill that would have allowed VA doctors to prescribe Cannabis in states where it was legal. Billion dollar pharmaceutical companies line the pockets of politicians regularly. the biggest issue facing the human race right now is climate change, but you see more media coverage of the Kardashians than global warming.

The inmates have been running the asylum for some time.

So the DEA Aug 1st legalization thing is dead? 

[marom1963]

Bribes are an essential aspect of democracy.  President Nixon should never have been ashamed of taking a little money from Howard Hughes.  It is also the law that it is legal for members of Congress to do insider trades in the markets.  The Clinton Foundation is perfectly legal, even if much of the money is foreign origin.  What you are seeing here isn't just one political campaign, it is a failed state.

The Romans expected politicians to take bribes. Any politician who did not take bribes was considered a fool. Men like Caesar kept slush funds just for bribing politicians. And the public could be bought off, too - bread, circuses, monuments ... Americans are very silly. Of course politicians take bribes. It's one of the little perks that goes along w/being elected. Politicians take bribes, bureaucrats take bribes, the police take bribes - taking bribes is one of the little goodies that every official counts upon - unless he wants to wind up a floater in some river somewhere.

[GSOgymrat]

I see Brexit as an example of a flaw in the democratic process. The consequences of leaving the EU are too complicated and far reaching to leave to citizens, all of whom can't possibly be adequately educated on the topic. A popular majority, no matter how slim, determining the result seems shortsighted. Leave or Remain should have been determined by representatives, not individual voters.

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[Hakurei Reimu]

In terms of governing ourselves, nobody knows really what they're doing. It doesn't matter if they're representatives or the common rabble.

[Baruch]

In terms of governing ourselves, nobody knows really what they're doing. It doesn't matter if they're representatives or the common rabble.

The problem isn't "know", the problem is "consent".  It is much easier to govern with "consent".  So we need the illusion of a participatory democracy.  In general, the elite know less than the rabble, because they went to elite know-nothing universities.  Usually the rabble meant people in the trades, who worked in practical terms with their hands, not by BS in the courts.

[Hakurei Reimu]

By the same token, the rabble don't appreciate the history of how they ended up the way they are in the first place, and those who do not remember history is doomed to repeat it.

[Baruch]

By the same token, the rabble don't appreciate the history of how they ended up the way they are in the first place, and those who do not remember history is doomed to repeat it.

That is why it is important that they receive a "public" education.