The fear factor fuelling Trump and Brexiteers
APOCALYPTIC science fiction films usually have a countdown, and we have just 11 days before the United Kingdom’s EU referendum and five months before the US presidential election. double whammy where Brexit and Donald Trump prevail is a brain-freezing prospect where emotion would eclipse logic.
Both Brexit and Trump have a common appeal that whips up fear among working people worried about how to hang on to their most basic needs – a home and a job.
It is not a rational fear but it is no less real because it is not supported by any credible facts. And it will be borne out in the support for Brexit and Trump in the British and US polls.
Suspicion of the establishment has propelled Brexit and Trump to
the cusp of power in spite of strong arguments made by serious people. President Obama and the governor of the Bank of England have made convincing cases for the Remain campaign along with political, business and economic leaders. And Trump has become the presumptive candidate for the Republican Party while its most senior and respected figures could do nothing to stop him. Less than a fortnight before a decision on Britain’s EU membership and the Leave side is trying hard not to look smug as opinion polls tip in their favour. The emotion stirred up by concerns that EU immigrants to Britain will take jobs for lower pay and will get first call for social housing is not supported by the facts.
Trump’s labelling of Mexicans and other immigrants as criminals does not stand up to any scrutiny. But Trump voters, like Brexit supporters, do not let facts get in the way of their prejudice.
BRITISH dissatisfaction with the EU is mirrored in new polling that suggests French voters are even more sceptical of the EU than the British. And in Germany, Spain and Greece, scepticism of the EU is at the same level or higher than Britain’s. Yes, patronising reassurances from Brussels are neither convincing nor helpful, but the Brexit alternative offers nothing at all.
Something has stirred among mostly working-class people
around Europe and across the Atlantic, making them suspicious of political and financial leaders – the establishment.
The result is Brexit and Trump – but they are not logical answers to a very complex question.
The EU prioritised its political ambitions for closer union before its economic responsibilities and launched the euro without sufficient thought or planning.
Too many people distrust the EU, find it is remote and want their elected government to make all the major decisions for their countries (and in fact, they do). The EU is in urgent need of root-and-branch reform but the net benefits outweigh its many defects – and the instability triggered by Brexit.
Whatever happens, we will need a reliable leader and a trustworthy government. And look what we have got – Enda Kenny and his Mixum Gatherum Coalition doing Fianna Fail’s bidding.
That is proof of the eternal optimism of Irish voters in the face of international mayhem.