I’m a big fan of Democracy Now, especially for its in-depth journalism. Here’s a useful excerpt of an Amy Goodman interview with British journalist Paul Mason on Brexit:
AMY GOODMAN: So there you have it, Donald Trump saying what’s—with the pound going down, that would be good for his golf course. Can you respond to—
PAUL MASON: His visit has just been relentless comedy, I’m afraid. And any of your viewers who are thinking that this man might become the president of the United States need to really worry, because he arrived and said, “What a great result. The people have got their way, to leave,” but he’s in Scotland. Scotland voted to remain. And Scotland will probably now leave the United Kingdom.
And as for what he said there about the pound falling being a good thing, well, if we were an export-driven economy and we had an industry left—Margaret Thatcher, unfortunately, destroyed our industry—that might be true. But we are largely an importing economy and a service-driven economy, which can only really carry on with our own current economic model, the finance-driven, financial services-driven model, if we remain part of Europe. You know, what’s threatening the share price of major British banks right now is the fear that they will lose their ability to trade in Europe. So, Trump is just completely wrong, and also crass, I think, in the way that he’s kind of blundered in here. And, I mean, remember Sarah Palin in the 2008 referendum—election in the United States, didn’t—you know, didn’t know much about the rest of the world, couldn’t—you know, really couldn’t tell you much about, for example, Russia. This guy has come into our country and gone to the very place and said the very opposite thing compared to reality.
And, you know, I think, quite right, no major politician has met him, because he’s not only toxic, he’s seen here as a racist. And we have a Muslim mayor of the city I’m sitting in, and a Muslim mayor who, under Trump’s proposals, would not be able to visit the United States.
AMY GOODMAN: How does Trump supporters compare to those in the Britain First movement in Britain who were pushing for Brexit?
PAUL MASON: The Britain First movement is a tiny fascist group which wears uniforms, like these people that have been perpetrating crimes today in the United States. They are a ultra-rightist, almost Ku Klux Klan-like group. That is one thing. The leave campaign, 52 percent of people voted leave, look, this is way broader than Trump. United Kingdom Independence Party, which is this party that has one member of Parliament but is very influential, they are more like the tea party. But I have to say that what we have in Britain, you know, there are some extreme social conservatives who, for example, would want to ban abortion, and have very reactionary and racist views on ethnic minorities, but really they are a much smaller minority, and therefore even the people who wanted a hard exit from Europe and don’t want migration, they are very careful about using any kind of language that’s racist. It’s often what we call dog-whistle racism. But I would say, look, the 52 percent vote to leave is not the equivalent as if Trump got 52 percent in the election. It’s way, way more broader than that.
Let us know in the comments if you think these analyses hold. Also, some dessert: David Tennant reading some delectable Scottish Trump insults in a delectable Scottish accent on Samantha Bee’s show. The whole thing’s good, but if it’s insults you want, they commence at around 5:20: