How Brexit, a Startling Act of Economic Self-Harm, Foreshadowed Trump’s Tariffs
How Brexit, a Startling Act of Economic Self-Harm, Foreshadowed Trump’s Tariffs
How Brexit, a Startling Act of Economic Self-Harm, Foreshadowed Trump’s Tariffs
I found this article interesting. Here are some quotes:
Brexit’s backers sold the project as a magic bullet that would solve the problems caused by a globalizing economy — not unlike Mr. Trump’s claims that tariffs would be a boon to the public purse and a remedy for the inequities of global trade. In neither case, experts said, does such a panacea exist.
“The truth is, Brexit did not correct any of the problems caused by deindustrialization,” said Tony Travers, a professor of politics at the London School of Economics. “If anything, Brexit made them worse.”
Mr. Trump’s MAGA coalition has some of the same ideological fault lines as the Brexiteers, pitting economic nationalists like Stephen K. Bannon against globalists like Elon Musk. That has led analysts to wonder if post-Trump politics in the United States will look a lot like post-Brexit politics in Britain.
“Brexit caused profound damage to the Conservative Party,” Professor Travers said. “It has been rendered unelectable because it is riven by factions. Will the Republican Party be similarly factionalized after Trump?”
Brexit was a lesson on how a critical mass of gullible voters swallowed a bunch of outrageous lies peddled by anti-Europe politicians.
MAGA was a lesson on how a critical mass of gullible voters swallowed a bunch of outrageous lies peddled by Trump.
The lessons here being:
The biggest argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. Or something like that.
Maybe. But in a democracy the voters choose what they want, whether you like their choice or not.
Maybe the political centre needed to do a better job of serving the people who ultimately voted for Brexit and Trump. Those people felt that politicians didn't care about them at all.
Yes I know. As Churchill said, democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others. But really, when you see how dumb the voting public is, has been and always will be, repeating the same terrible mistake over and over again, it's fucking depressing.
The problem is who controls the choices they get.
Nonsense. They wouldn't be able to do a thing, those voters lives in a propaganda bubble. Also the brexit referendum wasn't democracy. It was supposed to be advisory only. An actual referendum on such a matter would never have been a simple majority decision in any actual democracy.
This was the opposite of democracy and blaming people who actually opposed this instead of the people who acutally orchestrated it is disingenous at best.