You Brexit, You Buy It

October 16, 2017 Topic: Politics Region: Europe Tags: BrexitUKTheresa MayTrumpPopulismLondon

You Brexit, You Buy It

However much both sides want to behave like grown-ups, the arguments over withdrawal soon turn into squabbles.

But now Trump’s presidency appears to be unraveling even more dramatically than May’s premiership. Steve Bannon, a great Brexit enthusiast, is no longer in the White House, and the new, general-dominated administration is less inclined towards populist nationalism, and more towards a multilateral view of world affairs. Should May have put so much faith in so tempestuous a figure as Trump? It is in the British character to exaggerate the fondness Americans have for their mother country. The truth is that Brits feel desperately nervous about their Brexit future, which is why they clung to the hope that Uncle Sam (in the unlikely shape of Trump) would save them, so that they could go back to fun things, like arguing about legs and inappropriate newspaper headlines. So far, however, neither Britain’s Brexit government nor the orange king across the water inspires much confidence.

Freddy Gray, deputy editor of the London Spectator, is a regular contributor to the National Interest.

Image: Reuters

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