MAGA & Brexit. A nostalgic retreat to fantasy land.

I feel very uneasy about Brexit and positively alarmed at the rise of Donald Trump. Hence the following.

Imagine the cry Make Germany Great Again. Such a sabre-rattling slogan would echo the war cry of the 3^rd Reich’s for a return to German supremacy and world domination. Hopefully, it would quickly be dismissed, in saner circles anyway. Conservatives generally stand for unfettered individualism; opposition to change, or what others would call progress; for king, country and nation; and for conservative "family values" or opposition to same-sex marriage to name an instance. But many conservatives dream of a return to an imagined golden age, of empire, manners and a social order to their liking. 

Enter the debate for Brexit and MAGA.

Brexit and MAGA are in part a sentimental yearning for a past that was blind to political correctness, to a past where right is might and might is right, and where advantage and entitlement were nature's way, the survival of the fittest. A world viewed through rose-colored glasses, of childhood fantasies, of nostalgia more than any precise history review.

In the UK the Leave campaigners appealed to the fears of those who had been left behind in their share of the economic pudding and added migration problems to the mix. In some places, a touch of racism goes a long way. Nigel Farage knows that as can be seen painted on his campaign bus. Brexiters appealed to a Britain of the past when:

Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves. Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.

A tiny minority of Britains panicked and fell for it. They voted for Brexit, but so slim was the margin that a vote a few days later could very well have had a different result. The British Commonwealth was a vastly different beast in its colonial past to the present UK. Europe is likewise very different to its 20^th Century version when two World Wars shook it to its foundation. A united Europe is the best insurance possible of repeating those gross errors of history.

On both sides of the Atlantic experts have been ridiculed as establishment,  and out for their own ends.  What would they know! Prejudice has replaced reason. It so happens that the majority of British institutions and think tanks have warned against Brexit and its economic impacts. But casting rubbery figures about is pretty standard in political debate and time will likely show, in my opinion anyway, that leaving the EU was not a well-informed move, and that it will come at a high cost. Make Britain Great Again is a historical fantasy and nostalgia for a past that never was, on par with wishing for the heady testosterone fuelled days of youth. Interesting however how Brexit crossed political divides. Some conservatives don’t want to be seen as backward-looking. They have come to terms with change and modernity and stand for bold individualism as against a retreat to past glories.

Across the Atlantic, MAGA is a blatant catch cry to deliver votes to Trump and to inflate his ego. It's a political marketing strategy with a  populist rhetoric designed with the same logic as Brexit: to appeal to overlooked mining communities, dog whistle racist groups, and entice those foolish enough to take Trump’s snake oil; and that essentially to promote the idea he actually cares about them. 

Really, how many of his base could afford to stay in his hotels, play on his golf courses, or join Mar di Lago?  How many of them can afford life without proper health care? How will his voodoo economics and disdain for the world affect his US base, their jobs, incomes, and futures? How much cost will Made in the US add to their budgetary bottom line? 

Exactly how much damage can Trump do to American democracy, to a free press, to race relations, to growth in hi-tech industries, to trust and fair and objective debate?

It gets considerably worse when science is disregarded and fake experts are brought to the fore as Secretary for Education and Secretary for the Environment, to name a few instances. When photographic evidence is questioned. "You can’t make this shit up", said Sean Spicer in despair before abandoning his role in the Trump West Wing.

In the 60s there was much talk of the “credibility gap”. Today “credibility” has all but disappeared and it’s easier to believe in gnomes and elves than in Donald Trump’s tweets. Make America Great Again, or Make America Groan Again? If America wises up then Trump will be discarded into the trash bin of history where he rightly belongs. Hooray for that!