When Conservatives Make Racism Respectable

The most prominent supporters of Brexit promised they will make “great deals” on Britain’s behalf.

Sound familiar?

Brexit also encourages others to follow Britain’s lead, threatening the noble project of European integration that arguably begun after the defeat of Napoleon.

In next to no time, xenophobia has begun to run rampant in the UK. Racism has become respectable. It manifests itself viciously even against people with British passports who were born in the country, but look different than the majority of the people. They may have Pakistani roots or Indian ones.

If they have been successful in their careers, they are now confronted with sentiments that they achieved their success only by pushing “proper” Brits to the side.

It has become acceptable to tell long-established British citizens, “It’s time for you to leave.”

The proponents of Brexit played to the same fears and exploited the same sense of desperation that have, since time immemorial, been the bread and butter of demagogues large and small.

Just like Trump

All of this seems increasingly like the precursor of what may lie ahead for the United States under Trump. He surely leads the fight to make the country “great again,” but even he must know that he cannot deliver on almost any of his promises.

Brexit, like Trump, is the harvest of the persistent seeds of racism, planted in ground plowed by fear, and watered by greed.

It is a bitter fruit from a vine that grows in dark places.

Once upon a time, Britons and Americans fought these dark sentiments as noble allies. Now, the poison is beginning to take hold in their own midst.