Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair believes parallels exist between the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union and the support Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has seen in the U.S.
Trump said he believes similar forces are at work that helped get the U.K. to vote to leave the EU, and might help him win the White House. Trump said Britain wasn’t pleased with the influx of immigrants pouring into the country, and said the U.S. has a similar problem.
“Actually, on this point, I do agree. I think there are parallels,” Blair said on CNN. “But, you know, the question is do those parallels take you in a good direction or bad direction?”
“So I think yes, there are parallels with these insurgent movements, left and right and your way, our way, but the question will be over time, are these experiments going to result in a good outcome or not?” he added.
Blair attributed the political insurgency to populism from both sides of politics.
“I do think is that there is a strange coming together of populism from the left and the right,” he said. “You would think that populism of left and right doesn’t have much in common, but curiously, they have a lot in common.”
“There are solutions for the future that we’ve got to put forward before people and the danger is that so much anger at the moment that the anger displaces what are frankly the more rational answers,” Blair added.
Some in the media have said the U.K. vote is a sign that Trump may have a real chance at winning the White House in November. The “Brexit” vote was expected to fail narrowly on Thursday, but won 52-48.
