Brexit Leader Farage Likens Trump To Reagan

Right-wing conservative British politician Nigel Farage, considered by many to be the leader of the United Kingdom’s Brexit movement, compared Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to former President Ronald Reagan.

“I really don’t believe that he is the monster painted by many,” Farage wrote in a Daily Mail opinion article. “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.”

Farage recently hit the campaign trail with Trump, who he described as a political rookie but one that could potentially be a force.

“Trump is very new to politics and has made a lot of mistakes,” Farage wrote. “When I watched his acceptance speech in Cleveland it appeared to be disjointed. It simply didn’t flow. But what I saw from just a few feet away in Jackson was something different. He was a better and more confident speaker. He stuck in a disciplined manner to a script. I sensed that his new campaign team have him on the right track.”

Farage went on to praise Trump for potentially bringing Brexit-style policies to the U.S., which he believes many Americans want. Those policies include stricter immigration laws and less foreign intervention.

“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,” he said. “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. [Democratic nominee] Hillary [Clinton] 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.”

Farage was leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party, which led the effort to hold a referendum in the U.K. on whether the country should exit the European Union. Critics of Brexit argued that the effort to leave the EU was fueled by anti-immigrant sentiment, according to NPR. Those in favor of leaving said being freed from EU constraints would allow greater sovereignty and economic prosperity.

The Brexit vote passed in June, 52 percent to 48 percent, reported the BBC, but the process of Britain leaving the EU could still take at least two more years under European law.

Sources: Daily Mail, NPR, BBC / Photo credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr