What others say: What the U.S. can learn from Brexit

  • Wednesday, June 29, 2016 8:16pm
  • Opinion

There are lessons for the United States from last week’s Brexit vote across the pond. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, has has tapped into the same populist sentiment here that caused UK voters to cast ballots in favor of leaving the European Union. The consequences could be just as frightful.

Here are three common manipulations.

1. Grabbing attention with populist appeals, the simpler the better

Brexit supporters, led by former London Mayor Boris Johnson, promised that going it alone would produce a quick remedy to all that ails the United Kingdom. No more immigrants taking jobs. No more edicts from far-away Brussels. Prosperity all around.

If this sounds familiar, it should. It mimics the most simplistic populist talking points of the Trump campaign. A wall on the U.S-Mexico border and Mexico will pay for it. A ban against Muslims entering the United States. We’ll have so many good trade deals that you couldn’t stand the winning.

If a solution to seems too simple, it probably is.

2. Contempt for practical questions

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

Economists warned of the folly of fleeing the EU. Breaking up a powerful trading bloc at a time when the rest of the world is seeking new trade alliances made no sense, they said. Financial markets would crash, billions of dollars would be lost. The EU and UK would be thrust into a period of grave uncertainty.

And guess what? It is happening and some voters are having buyer’s remorse for having purchased a pipe dream.

3. Ridicule of experts

Brexit supporters peddled magic beans, portraying anyone who questioned them as elitist and clueless. When pressed, Michael Gove, a pro-Brexit member of Parliament, offered this troubling response that has echoes of Trump: “I think people in this country have had enough of experts.”

Sound familiar? It could have been lifted from Trump’s playbook where doubters are automatically labled “losers” and “haters.” Memo to voters: Any person who stokes anti-establishment rage without regard to practical implications is dangerous.

It’s important to remember that elections do have consequences. Prime Minister David Cameron didn’t have to call the election. In doing so, he misread the tea leaves and gave a significant toehold to the pro-Brexit camp in a referendum. Now the future of the EU and the UK are in limbo.

Ditto to the GOP leaders here who said primary voters would never nominate a man as bombastic as Trump. They, too, misread the tea leaves. Now the GOP is badly fractured with a candidate many in party leadership want to disown.

Brexit should be a wake-up call to Americans about Trump’s campaign on this side of the Atlantic. Trump became the presumptive GOP nominee based on populist bluster. Bluster is not a policy, and the consequences of unchallenged assertions are written in the UK’s self-inflicted wounds.

— The Dallas Morning News,

June 28

More in Opinion

Brooke Walters. (Courtesy photo)
Opinion: A student’s letter to the governor

Our education funding is falling short by exuberant amounts.

Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, speaks in support of debating an omnibus education bill in the Alaska House Chambers on Monday, Feb. 19, 2024. in Juneau, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Capitol Corner: Compromise, not games

Rep. Justin Ruffridge reports back from Juneau.

Image provided by the Office of Mayor Peter Micciche.
Opinion: Taxes, adequate education funding and putting something back into your pocket

Kenai Peninsula Borough taxpayers simply can’t make a dent in the education funding deficit by themselves, nor should they be asked to do so.

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, speaks in support overriding Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of House Bill 69 at the Alaska Capitol in Juneau, Alaska, on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (Mark Sabbatini/Juneau Empire)
Capitol Corner: Legislature takes action on education funding

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman reports back from Juneau.

Jackson Carney of Wrangell, a student in the Federal Subsistence Board Policy and Procedures class at the University of Alaska Southeast, testifies before the Federal Subsistence Board. (Photo by Ryan Morse/courtesy)
Point of View: Helping the next generation of hunters and fishermen to have a say

Ultimately, the goal is to ensure Alaskans, and young people, have a say in the decisions that affect them.

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, a Nikiski Republican, speaks in favor of overriding a veto of Senate Bill 140 during floor debate of a joint session of the Alaska State Legislature on Monday, March 18, 2024 (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Capitol Corner: Failure of HB 69 takes us back to square one

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman reports back from Juneau.

Beach seine nets are pulled from the waters of Cook Inlet at a test site for the gear near Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: Expand the set beach seine experiment

A path forward to resolve the Upper Cook Inlet King and sockeye salmon commercial fishing and conservation crisis.

Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, speaks in support of debating an omnibus education bill in the Alaska House Chambers on Monday, Feb. 19, 2024, in Juneau, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Capitol Corner: When politics win, our schools lose

Rep. Justin Ruffridge reports back from Juneau.

courtesy
Opinion: To prevent abuse and neglect, support child care providers

Quality, affordable child care makes society function.

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, a Nikiski Republican, speaks in favor of overriding a veto of Senate Bill 140 during floor debate of a joint session of the Alaska State Legislature on Monday, March 18, 2024 (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Capitol Corner: Taking steps toward a balanced budget

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman reports back from Juneau.

Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, speaks in support of debating an omnibus education bill in the Alaska House Chambers on Monday, Feb. 19, 2024, in Juneau, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Capitol Corner: Dedicated to doing the work on education

Rep. Justin Ruffridge reports back from Juneau.

Logo courtesy of League of Women Voters.
Point of View: Tell your representatives SAVE Act is not needed

The SAVE Act will disenfranchise Alaska voters and make the process of voting much more restrictive.

You're browsing in private mode.
Please sign in or subscribe to continue reading articles in this mode.

Peninsula Clarion relies on subscription revenue to provide local content for our readers.

Subscribe

Already a subscriber? Please sign in