The Lessons of Brexit & Possible Parallels in the U.S. by FRED BAUER A populist surge has transformed politics on both sides offered a return to constitutional normalcy. of the Atlantic. Brexit and populist American politics differ in That said, Johnson’s campaign was not merely about key respects, but they share some common political contexts. constitutional questions. Recognizing that working-class Both were informed by a broader alienation from the political Leave voters might be repelled by austerity politics, establishment, which has led to an appetite for change and Johnson also offered proposals that spoke to the concerns for outsider political figures. In both the United States and of the economically precarious: increasing the number of the United Kingdom, the traditional parties of the left have doctors and police officers, adding to educational spending, loosened their hold on working-class voters in the wake of and investing in infrastructure. That combination of cultural and economic changes. populist policies and an Populist-sympathetic end to Brexit paralysis voters have a mix of policy helped break Labour’s “red preferences. In the United wall” in the Midlands and States, they are often skeptical Northern England while about high rates of immigration also stanching the bleeding and the current architecture in some traditionally Tory of global trade. Far from but Remain-friendly seats. doctrinaire free-marketeers, (The scandals surrounding these voters support a vigorous Jeremy Corbyn and the welfare state and are open to dominance of a more government regulation of large strident left in Labour corporate interests. Even if likely contributed to the many of these voters do not magnitude of Johnson’s embody every element of win, but it would be social conservatism in their a mistake to attribute private lives, they also resent Johnson’s sizeable majority “politically correct” efforts to merely to Corbynitis.) police speech and stigmatize British politics U.S. President Donald Trump and Britain’s Prime Minister social traditionalism. reveals some potential Boris Johnson confer during a bilateral meeting at the G7 The December 2019 opportunities and pitfalls summit on August 25, 2019 in Biarritz, France. parliamentary elections for Republicans in 2020. showed how a centerAn increase in workingright party can profit from class support was essential Brexit and populist American addressing populist sentiments. for President Trump’s Boris Johnson’s “Get Brexit victory in 2016 and in some politics differ in key respects, but Done” message spoke to two down-ballot congressional they share some common audiences: populist voters races. After two elections eager to leave the European supporting Barack Obama, political contexts. Union and voters exhausted blue-collar counties in the by the extended constitutional Rust Belt and elsewhere torment caused by establishment resistance to implementing swung to Donald Trump. In 2018, however, many the 2016 referendum. Leaving the European Union will almost suburban voters turned against the Republican Party. certainly cause considerable disruption to existing British Republicans in 2020 need simultaneously to keep financial, legal, and economic arrangements. That disruption some of their traditional supporters in the suburbs while offers both opportunity and, if poorly managed, peril. However, also expanding their reach among the working class in the continued battle over whether to implement Brexit at all rural, suburban, and urban areas. With the right policy had paralyzed British politics for years. “Get Brexit Done” and messaging strategies, they can do both. Proposals for 6
RIPON FORUM February 2020
