"Since I
announced that I was going to stand aside as Ukip leader in the wake of
the successful Brexit campaign, I've had more time to do other things.
This
included a trip to Cleveland for the Republican Convention [July 18-21, 2016] and the
adoption of Donald J. Trump as their Presidential candidate.
I
was astonished that everybody I met wanted to talk about Brexit – not
just the delegates to the convention but ordinary people, including a
group of US Navy veterans who told me we should have done it years ago.
There was a chance meeting, in a bar of course, with the delegation from Mississippi. They were
wildly enthusiastic Brexiteers and told me that their State Governor
Phil Bryant was delighted with the result and would love me to visit.
So in what I thought would be the quiet days of August, I was happy to accept their invitation.
The
plan was simple: I would speak at a dinner hosted by the Governor to
speak about the Brexit campaign and to draw parallels with voters in
America, who are looking for many of the same things.
It
was not until I arrived and was having dinner at the magnificent
Governor's Mansion in Jackson that I was told that on the following
evening there would be a rally at which up to 15,000 people would come
to hear Trump.
Governor
Bryant said he would like me to speak. I could scarcely believe it as I
knew that no UK politician had ever spoken at a Republican election
rally....
The
Trump campaign has been highly controversial....I was curious: what would the man be like in person?
We
met at a private gathering of major Mississippi donors to his campaign.
I was surprised, even slightly overwhelmed, by the warmth of his
welcome and his huge support for Brexit. As he said to me: 'Smart thing to do.'
We talked for a few minutes and then I headed off to the Coliseum, the
venue for the night's extravaganza. I had never addressed a public
meeting in the US before and certainly never spoken to a crowd of
15,000. I was anxious.
But
I was told not to worry, it would be OK. I'd be one of the early
speakers, they said, and hardly anyone would listen to me as they would
be waiting to hear from the main man.
So I waited in the wings – surrounded by swarms of stern- faced US Secret Service agents. Then,
minutes before the event began, I was told there was a change of plan.
Donald would introduce me. I couldn't really believe what I was
hearing. One of his aides said: 'He's gonna be your warm-up.'...
Trump took the stage to riotous applause and began to make his speech. About halfway through he moved on to the Brexit victory. And then he called me up on stage.
I told them that Brexit was the victory of the little people over the Establishment. They went wild.
I told them that if you can motivate non-voters to engage with the electoral process that anything was possible.
I did not endorse Trump, because I
had condemned President Obama for telling us what to do in our
referendum. But I did say that if I was a US citizen I would not vote
for Hillary Clinton even if she paid me.
The atmosphere in the room was more like a rock concert than a political meeting.
I
know from speaking in hundreds of chilly village halls to audiences of
50 people or fewer in the early years of Ukip that this was an
experience that for me would probably never be repeated.
And I must say I
loved every second of it.
So what now do I think of Trump and his campaign? Often business people don't make good politicians. They
are used to having their own way and fire off lots of ideas, many of
which are completely forgotten by the following morning.
But
in politics if you think out loud and throw ideas into the mix they
simply can't be thrown in the waste bin as they get analysed and often
ridiculed by the media pack....
When I watched his acceptance speech in Cleveland it appeared to be disjointed. It simply didn't flow.
He
stuck in a disciplined manner to a script. I sensed that his new
campaign team have him on the right track....
It is worth
remembering that virtually everyone thought that Ronald Reagan was unfit
to be the US President before he made a huge success of his two terms.
Trump
has embraced Brexit and all of the principles that led to that historic
vote. Most of the crowd I met after the rally had never voted in their
lives.
They
are the same people who made Brexit happen. They see Washington as
distant and aloof, just as many Leave voters saw rule from Brussels.
The
issue of open and loose borders in an age of increasing terrorist risk
may well dominate western politics for many years to come.
Trump is strong on the immigration message and he is connecting, to the horror of the Washington establishment.
Hillary
represents the status quo where the rich get richer and the poor get
poorer. She is part of the Establishment that has led us into an endless
series of wars.
The
Trump campaign is now about change. Having met him and having spoken to
him, I am far less worried. If he becomes US President he will be able
sensibly to make the big decisions....
It was a similar kind of demonisation used by George Osborne and many of the Remain camp on me during the referendum campaign.
It
does seem a little strange that I am now being used as a political
football in the American presidential campaign. But it shows that Brexit
is a truly global event.
Which
brings me back to Theresa May, who has said that Brexit means Brexit.
Given there is now a global debate on this issue she had better mean
it.
So far I have given her the benefit of the doubt. And I like the appointment of the three Brexiteers to do the job."...
............................More on 8/24/2016 Nigel Farage at Trump Mississippi rally from the perspective of a Trump supporter and Brexit fan:
Brexit leader Nigel Farage at Trump Jackson, Mississippi rally brings "a message of hope and a message of optimism:" Ordinary people can "overcome the big banks and the multinationals." Global "experts" said Brexit would lose. David Cameron-THEN UK Prime Minister-said it might even bring World War III:
"Speaking to a boisterous crowd of over 10,000 supporters in Jackson Mississippi, candidate Donald Trump introduced Nigel Farage the leader of the U.K. Independence party– who led a campaign culminating a successful exit of Great Britain from the corruptocrats and corporatist elites within the European Union."...
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| 8/24/1, Farage at Trump rally |
Mr. Farage comes to us "with a message of hope and a message of optimism." (:48) To win Brexit, they had to beat the same people in England we have to beat in the US: big banks and multinationals. If ordinary people are prepared to stand and fight, (1:02) "we can overcome the big banks, we can overcome the multinationals...And we did it. We made June the 23rd our Independence Day, when we smashed the Establishment. (crowd cheers) Everybody said we'd lose. And what did we see, we saw "experts" from all over the world...We saw the International Monetary Fund, we saw Moody's, we saw Standard and Poors....(2:14) And David Cameron--THEN our Prime Minister, but no longer told us, we might even get World War III. And we saw the commentariet and we saw the polling industry doing everything they could to demoralize our campaign. On the day of the vote itself, that morning, they put us ten...points...behind. And actually, they were all wrong."...(2:41)
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