TRUMP AND BREXIT – TERRIBLE TWINS by John Patton

Brexit Blog

Sovereignty is the Brexit buzzword.  My dictionary suggests  some synonyms for it – supremacy, hegemony, ascendancy  and domination among others. The front men in their campaign, Johnson, Gove, Villiers and Farage  would be quick to assert that they are merely seeking a self-governing state with powers to enact their own laws and control of borders. However, the movement reeks of old Empire and imperialism.

Last month, on a visit to India, David Cameron was euphoric in his pride of the British Empire and its global impact but he stopped short of an apology for the massacre at Amritsar when troops fired and killed hundreds of unarmed civilians. Eulogising the past glories of Empire infects the Tory Party and many others.  The British media   and a deficient history curriculum have convinced modern England that the Empire was ‘a good thing’.

Colonialists,  over a long period of time, established a system of subordination, drawing over existing, political structures with a red marker, granting positions of power exclusively to colonial agents or  supporters. Freedom movements were told, ‘you’re not ready for independence’  and most brutally suppressed. The Kikuyu people of Kenya suffered grievously at the hands of Empire under Winston Churchill as Colonial Secretary. The British left behind a legacy of poverty, disempowerment, decimated cultures and political systems. I can remember learning about Clive of India in an Irish primary school but the Bengal Famine never featured in those texts. For that matter and much nearer home, neither did the Irish ‘Górta Mór.

Brexit supporters dream of  Empire days, lead by Michael Gove who had plans to wrap   schools’ literature programme in the Union Jack; Boris Johnson  invoked the ‘Spirit of Churchill’ , another well documented racist, when he announced his support for the Leave Campaign. Nigel Farage , whose opinions I will not dignify in print , shares  their platform. The DUP was formed by an arch bigot and one whose views still define the Party and its members.  The Treaty of Rome is one that Gregory Campbell and fellow travellers dearly wish to flee.

Across the Pond, Donald Trump, son of Fred, who reportedly had a fondness for dressing in  KKK attire, has, unsurprisingly, made race and ethnicity central to his campaign for the Republican nomination.  He has called Mexicans rapists; threatened Muslims with  total exclusion   from the US and suggested at a rally that a Black protester needed some roughing up. When Trump talks about ‘making America great again’ , it is the Brexit soundtrack.

Trump questioned Obama’s right to contest the Presidency in 2008 and repeatedly called for him to produce his birth certificate. With similar subtlety, Boris Johnson questioned the right of this ‘part-Kenyan’ President to have a view  on Britain’s membership of the EU. In an appealing piece of symmetry , Obama skewered each of them – Trump at the White House Correspondents dinner (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8TwRmX6zs4) and Johnson at a press conference last week in London.

Trump and Brexit – twin personification of racist bigotry .

 

 

14 Responses to TRUMP AND BREXIT – TERRIBLE TWINS by John Patton

  1. Sherdy April 26, 2016 at 6:38 pm #

    ‘The front men in their campaign’:
    Thanks for confirming my suspicions about our Theresa!

  2. billy April 26, 2016 at 7:58 pm #

    so all brexit supporters are bigots now.

  3. fiosrach April 26, 2016 at 10:26 pm #

    Well most bigots are Brexit supporters anyway.

    • Jude Collins April 27, 2016 at 7:58 am #

      I think maybe you mean the other way round – most Brexit supporters are bigots. In either case I think it’s a bit sweeping, fiosrach. Evidence?

    • giordanobruno April 27, 2016 at 8:44 am #

      fiosrach
      Do you mean catholic bigots or protestant bigots?

      • fiosrach April 27, 2016 at 11:55 am #

        There’s a difference?

  4. fiosrach April 27, 2016 at 9:48 am #

    Are most racists liable to be pro leaving? Are most right wingers liable to be pro leaving? Are most little Englanders liable to be pro leaving? Are most loyalists liable to be pro leaving? I was really just reversing billy’s comment but am I right or wrong. Of course I base all MY opinions on the British media so I could be wrong.

    • Jude Collins April 27, 2016 at 11:52 am #

      In response to your questions, fiosrach, my answer would be yes, yes, yes and YES. Point taken.

      • giordanobruno April 27, 2016 at 1:19 pm #

        Jude
        Evidence?

        • Jude Collins April 27, 2016 at 2:55 pm #

          I’ve expressed only an opinion, so I’m not sure that evidence is called for. I could give you reasons, if that helped? E/g., the DUP is a right-wing party; it’s also a BREXIT party. Racists pro-leaving? I would have thought that’d be pretty self-evident – you’d hardly want further integration with furriners.Most loyalists are right-wing – certainly the OO historically has always been on the right in big issues. Most Little Englanders pro-BREXIT? Is the Pope from Argentina?

          • giordanobruno April 27, 2016 at 7:26 pm #

            Jude
            You can have opinions of course without evidence. That’s called religion.
            But discussion is normally progressed by offering opinions and backing them up.

            It seems lazy of fiosrach to talk about bigots then clarify that by breaking it down to include right wingers and loyalists (little Englanders and racists are clearly going to be anti integration) as if individuals from those groupings are all the same.
            Right wingers presumably include the Tory Party which is currently split on the issue.
            Locally I believe the farming community, of which many members would be unionist and/or Orange Order members, is also split on the issue and the UFU has not made a call either way.
            Many local business owners, some of whom must presumably be loyalist, appear to be in favour of staying in. One poll gave a figure of 81% in favour.
            This is lazy stereotyping of the ‘we know prods are all racists’ variety.
            Or bigotry in other words.

          • Jude Collins April 27, 2016 at 9:33 pm #


            You can have opinions of course without evidence. That’s called religion.” – I’m afraid I stopped reading after these two sentences, gio.

          • giordanobruno April 27, 2016 at 10:02 pm #

            Jude
            Good for you.

  5. Wolfe tone April 27, 2016 at 6:35 pm #

    I am sorry but I have to be honest and care little whether the U.K leaves Europe or not.

    If as it has been reported that scotland will almost seek a new referendum on independence, if there’s a brexit, which could mean the break up of their beloved kingdom then that’s a good thing isn’t it?
    And according to Martin mcguinness there will also be a border poll on Irish unification in the event of a brexit, then surely that’s a good thing too?

    Surely if the above are true then Irish republicans should be all for a brexit? So why the scaremongering? It almost sounds as if mcguinness doesn’t want a border poll, and if that’s the case why did they/SF champion it in the first place?
    A brexit wouldn’t be the end of the world but it would a sure fire way of reminding people who rules this state. And it ain’t those lounging in stormont.