NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. ― Former U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage came to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference to congratulate himself on supporting U.S. President Donald Trump, bash the media and call for a “great global revolution.”
Farage drew a direct line between the June 2016 “Brexit” vote, in which British citizens opted to exit the European Union, and Trump’s surprising U.S. presidential victory in November.
Calling on more nations to vote for what he views as their nationalist interests, Farage noted, “We’ve got some very exciting elections coming up in the Netherlands, in France, in Germany, possibly even in Italy. They’re rejecting the idea of being governed by a bunch of unelected old men in Brussels.”
Farage helped lead the political movement behind Brexit, a position of isolationism that has caused debated economic effects in Britain and across Europe. The British pound immediately fell when British voters sided with Farage’s “leave” campaign in June. The currency recently dropped to a three-year low compared to the Euro and a three-decade low against the dollar.
Still, Brexit’s supporters have been emboldened recently, in part by Trump’s “America First” rhetoric and similar nationalist movements in Europe that advocate for tighter borders and policies that critics denounce as nativist and xenophobic.
While Farage said countries should put their own interests first, he also advocated for good relations between countries that share a common language.
“Our real friends in the world speak English, have common law and stand by us in times of crisis,” he said.
Farage added that 2016 was the year democracies “made a comeback against the globalists of those who wish to destroy everything that we have ever been.”
He poured on the praise for Trump, saying that just as Brexit becomes more popular in Britain, Trump will become more popular in America.
“What I’m seeing 36 days into a Trump presidency, I’m seeing something quite remarkable,” Farage said. “I’m seeing an elected leader who is trying to put in place the platform on which he was elected.”
Every time he’s come to America since Trump’s election, Farage said, he feels a bit more American.
“What happened in 2016 is not the end of this great global revolution, what happened in 2016 is the beginning of a great global revolution,” he said.
Farage added that these new political actors were governing for their countries and their people.
“And we are winning,” he said.