The verbose, charmingly unkempt Johnson, 52, has been described as Britain’s Donald Trump; he’s stoked anti-immigrant hate and shown little regard for the truth during the “Brexit” campaign.
.. American Erik Bidenkap, who’s working in London, says the similarities between Trump’s presidential campaign in the U.S. and the “Brexit” campaign in the U.K. are stark. “In America, politicians are saying, ‘We’re losing to China, we’re losing to Mexico, they’re stealing our jobs,'” Bidenkap told NPR. “Here in Great Britain, same thing.
.. No one who’s followed Johnson’s career is surprised by his rhetoric. The former journalist has always had a tetchy relationship with the truth.
.. Johnson “has managed to use his disarranged, slightly comical hair as a helmet, shielding him from more serious scrutiny. It lets him come across as an unconventional politician…”
Fear of being overrun by immigrants was a driving concern for “Leave” voters. But globalization concerns and a desire to wrest Britain from under Brussels’ thumb were also key factors.
.. Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London who backed leaving the E.U., is considered a front-runner to succeed Mr. Cameron.
.. Investors fled to the American dollar and the yen.
.. London’s role as a financial center could be imperiled, particularly if the trade in euro-denominated securities moves to rival cities like Paris and Frankfurt.
.. Scotland and Northern Ireland could go their own way. Both voted overwhelmingly to stay in the E.U. But prominent political leaders in Scotland and Northern Ireland called on Friday for new moves toward separating from Britain.
.. Northern Ireland has an open border with the Republic of Ireland, a member of the bloc. Border crossings could now be tightened, and pressure could increase for unification, prompting instability in both places.
.. Donald J. Trump: “I said this was going to happen, and I think that it’s a great thing.”
The British people “have declared their independence from the European Union, and have voted to reassert control over their own politics, borders and economy,” Mr. Trump said. “A Trump administration pledges to strengthen our ties with a free and independent Britain.”
Infowars and its proprietor, Alex Jones, who is a conspiracy theorist and radio talk-show host in Austin, Texas.
.. Jones’s amazing reputation arises mainly from his high-volume insistence that national tragedies such as the September 11th terror attacks, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Sandy Hook elementary-school shooting, and the Boston Marathon bombing were all inside jobs, “false flag” ops secretly perpetrated by the government to increase its tyrannical power (and, in some cases, seize guns).
.. Jones believes that no one was actually hurt at Sandy Hook—those were actors—and that the Apollo 11 moon-landing footage was faked.
.. Does Donald Trump actually believe any of this? Or is he laughing up his sleeve as apoplectic fact-checkers throw themselves into the thankless work of disproving his absurdities? To cover himself, he prefaces his more outlandish remarks with disclaimers like “I hear” or “A lot of people think.” (To back up his contention that “thousands and thousands” of Muslims publicly celebrated the 9/11 attacks in New Jersey, he tweeted a link to Infowars.
.. Trump is playing a different game.
.. He is playing to Americans who do not trust the media or traditional information sources, such as the government. He offers alternative narratives, fantasies that shock and satisfy. He entertains. On “Meet the Press,” after Chuck Todd asked him for evidence supporting his claim that a protester at one of his rallies had ties to the Islamic State, Trump said, “All I know is what’s on the Internet.” He said that.
.. In a GQprofile of Hope Hicks, his spokeswoman, by Olivia Nuzzi, Trump’s daily news briefing is described as printouts of “30 to 50 Google News results for ‘Donald J. Trump.’ ” Trump goes at the items with a marker and, according to a GQ source, “He reads something he doesn’t like by a reporter, and it’s like, ‘This motherfucker! All right, fine. Hope?’ He circles it. ‘This guy’s banned! He’s banned for a while.’
.. He has gut instincts for pleasing members of a fact-averse crowd—for speaking what’s on their minds. He seems to be a narcissist of bottomless insecurity and need
.. “I know more about isis than the generals do,” he said at one of his rallies. “Believe me. I’m good at war. I’ve had a lot of wars of my own. I’m really good at war.”