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The Legions of Brexit, the Legions of Trump
The parallels are too obvious to ignore … and almost too trite to voice. Our cousins of the “special relationship” variety across the pond have seized the torch and plunged off into the gathering gloom. Are we going to follow?
It has happened before.
Resolve in the face of Communism and belief in the Free Market brought Thatcher to the forefront in Britain. Reagan – only a step behind – followed. The thirst for a lean, market-oriented third way produced Tony Blair. And he was followed by his doppelganger Bill Clinton. And now not a candidate but a populist movement swells among the descendants of Albion. A small flame of national identity, a hunger for self-determination and mostly a common-sense recognition of the perils of the invading hordes, be they bureaucrats or barbarians, has taken hold.
And Britain has just said “frankly Brussels, I don’t give a damn.”
So what will the logical coda of this etude be in the Colonies? Is the great wheel of history turning in the direction of … Donald Trump?
Unelected bureaucrats meddling in our way of life – telling us what light bulbs we can use, what bailout funds for profligate socialists we must prop up – and all the while conveying their condescension and disdain of us: do we have to tolerate this?
Invasions of our country by the world’s impoverished and the world’s intolerant; taking our jobs, threatening our citizens and demanding that we display tolerance toward their way of life: don’t we have a choice of who we let in here?
Global trade relations that allow the masters of the universe to ignore borders and treat our workers as broken, dispirited and overpriced units in comparison to the less-educated, cheaper and more pliable units of China, Indonesia and elsewhere: we know how much money they have but how many votes does that entitle them to?
Do you still think that Donald Trump is a huckster – a latter day P.T. Barnum – selling nothing but cheap and worthless snake oil to zombie fans of reality TV? Because consider, when those zombies awoke today to see all of the talking heads in fire alarm mode and the esteemed heads of this or that commission of this or that international ruling body looking like they’d just been informed of some life-changing surgery they would have to undergo, do you think that those zombies – who had only remotely even heard the word “Brexit” before – do you think they reflexively worried about their 401k plans? Hell no! They don’t got no stinking 401k plans. You know what those zombies did? They laughed!
And then what about the polls and the betting markets and the recently buoyant financial markets that are reeling today? No one thought that “remain” was a sure thing, but the smart money was on the jet black colt with the exquisite breeding. The aging chestnut mare (of uncertain parentage) was so easily made the object of ridicule that the educated bettors never bothered to ask whether, after all, she could run or not.
How much are the elites here in America fooling themselves as well? Are they still betting that the Trump phenomenon is a shallow circus act with no relation to the emerging zeitgeist (forgive me Angela)? Because I tell you once and once again: the movement is one.
And so fellow conservatives – fellow Ricochetti – I say that today is a day for unambiguous celebration. Today is a day for the Children of Paradise to dance and for us to dance with them. Let the next few months until, oh, around November be an experiment on what happens when democracy overrules the entrenched interests and dynamism defeats stasis.
And let’s see if the day after election day the zombies who love reality TV will laugh again.
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Published in General
The Brexit, the erroneous polls,dislike of uberlords telling us how to live, immigration, Hillary’s awfulness and terrorism bode well for a Trump win. I hope he manages to grow up a bit but I’m not holding my breath ( unless that’s how I’d equate voting for him , which I am doing).
I do think Donald has some huckster in him. He’s tapped in to a world of legitimate anger that the rest ignored and now he’s got to deliver. I hope he does.
Well said. The British people are not fools. Trump is no fool. He plays a deeper game than most give him credit. Do you think he just happens to be in Scotland today, the day after the Brexit (openning a new golf course). No he forsaw the opportunity to associate his movement with Brexit weeks/months ago.
Yabbut, the UK populist movement has leaders with a wealth of political and governmental experience. Folk like Boris Johnson, Daniel Hannan, Nigel Farage, etc. Folk who’ve actually been elected before, and/or actually served in government.
Trump is a … how shall I phrase this … sub-optimal analogue.
Until you said that Wiley it never dawned on me that Trump had actually planned this trip in advance with that in mind. Duh! Great point!
Unfortunately, Trump ain’t Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, or Daniel Hannan.
Trump is at a whole different level of genius. We are stuck playing chess while he is playing peek-a-boo.
While this is undeniable, there was, alas, no one else on our side of the pond who saw the crisis and seized the human spirit the way Trump did. Arguably no normal politician had a real chance of seeing it (although Jeff Sessions seems to be an exception to that).
Lovely people all but none of them have a clue how to run a $4.5 billion dollar business let alone a national budget. I took a hit today in the market (not too bad because I was forewarned) and cashed out completely.
I won’t buy a single stock until Trump gets elected.
Less Daniel Hannan and more Silvio Berlusconi.
Shouldn’t you be buying stocks now while the prices are low?
I posted this on John Gabriel’s post. So proud of our son :)
This does not appear to be winning strategy. Shouldn’t you be selling high and buying low??? Why cash out now?
I suggest buying stocks in a flat dollar amount, same amount, monthly, in a diversified portfolio, if you’re going to try to avoid unanticipated swings. That way if you buy $1,000 of 10 different stocks, you’ll be buying fewer when their prices are higher and more when their prices are lower.
Or just buy stocks when they go higher than the moon when Trump is elected. That’s a strategy, too.
I agree, it makes no sense. You lost money because you “cashed out.” Markets go up and down. Hell, now is probably a good time to buy because things will pick back up. They always do.
A most imperfect analogy indeed. The last I checked weren’t the men in favor of Brexit actually in favor of free markets and the elimination of tariffs which the EU had imposed?
How many trump supporters even understand let alone know what Brexit was aside from what they might have seen today on TV, as it will soon disappear from the public mind.
Even then polling has been consistently inaccurate for the last 3-5 years. The most prominent example was the Parliament Election which every major polling institution predicted a labor victory of the conservatives and the exact opposite happened.
Even if trump truly cared for Brexit why would he go to Scotland to signal his support or “parallel”? Scotland was decided for remaining in the EU, not much parallel to be in the areas of the nation which sought to remain than leave.
Besides as we have seen from trump himself, he has no issues with the corruption or the bureaucracy because he has admitted such during debates (all great Americans do it according to him) and has not posited a single policy solution to that issue which he claims is broken at the same time.
Even more so is that trump has been a man which has hired illegals to work for himself and supports organizations that support the left like Planned Parenthood. If one is worried about the American people being destroyed or overtaken then committing millions of abortions is probably the most effective means of accomplishing that goal, unless those conceived by Americans are not really Americans.
This argument that trump is somehow related to Brexit is fantasy and could only be attained by omitting trump’s history and actions while projecting more positive attributes to him that he doesn’t have.
Yup.
The truly successful conman doesn’t fool people. He allows people to fool themselves. They are better at it than he could ever be.
Yes most people undersestimate him. He has overcome over a dozen GOP candidates and has taken control of a national political party in less than a year. This is not dumb luck. He may be the most capable natural politician in a generation. But people scoff at giving him any credit. So let’s hope democrats continue to underestimate him.
The Washington Post essentially argued that there’s not enough white people in the US anymore to secure an “American Brexit”, i.e. a Trump victory, and that this was a GOOD thing.
racist haters!
Aren’t these two points somewhat contradictory? I agree we don’t want bureaucrats telling companies what kind of light bulbs they are permitted to manufacture and sell, so do we want those same bureaucrats telling those same companies where they may open a new factory or whom they may hire?
I agree that within a purely libertarian context the positions look contradictory. But the anger we feel at being told what kind of light bulbs we are allowed to buy is not just due to our emotional attachment to the free market. It is the condescension of the elites who think they know better than we do what is good for us that is enraging.
And pure laissez-faire thinking says let people transcend borders anyway they want and let the law of supply and demand take over. But the current populist/nationalist movement is not purely libertarian. It places an emphasis on nation and culture that sometimes runs afoul of pure free market thinking.
It’s also frustratingly vague. Suppose Trump wins in November, and next year some CEO announces his company is closing a factory in the U.S. and moving it overseas. What will President Trump do about it, issue an executive order to block the move? What do the members of this movement you’re describing want him to do, expect him to do to stop it?
Hmm, I seem to have wandered into the “bad investment strategies” thread.
Good to hear Doc. I know there’s lots of time for disappointment to force a change of mind. But the opposite holds true as well. It could be a constant progression towards a much more enthusiastic endorsement. I pray for the latter, he’s all we got.
I don’t think executive orders are going to happen. Nor will he try to stop them from leaving per se. But he will try to pass tax and bureaucratic reforms that will make it less attractive for companies to relocate elsewhere. I would also imagine that if they still decided to leave, he will unabashedly tell everyone on the planet what terrible products they have or services they render…just a little kick in the butt on the way out the door.
So why should elites be allowed to tell me who my small business can hire? Because they are your elites?
Listening to local public radio, they interviewed 3 different people in different areas after the election in England. One Brit has a business and said he was the only English speaking person in his neighborhood – another said Britain had lost its identity – our traditions, our country has become unrecognizable – the refugee influx was a big part of it – but they said they did not bargain for so much control over their country by the EU – that it became an elephant – the joined currency has become a problem with the economic fallout of some of the other countries, etc.
This is different than our problems, but in some important ways, very similar. You can be sure this will be a topic of the debates.
Yes. You are supporting a criminal for president.
Wow, I thought for sure I heard a self avowed FASCIST say exactly what you said the other day. Hope I am wrong.
Edit: Excuse me, I meant National Socialist…or perhaps national socialist. Jeez, who knows?