Donald Trump responded to the United Kingdom’s Brexit vote on Friday and claimed there is similar sentiment among Americans who want to overthrow the conventional political system to “take their country back.”
Likening Britain’s vote to leave the European Union to a “declaration of independence,” Trump hailed the result as a personal victory for his campaign.
“Come November, the American people will have the chance to re-declare their independence. Americans will have a chance to vote for trade, immigration, and foreign policies that put our citizens first,” Trump said in a statement on Friday. “They will have the chance to reject today’s rule by the global elite, and to embrace real change that delivers a government of, by, and for the people.”
Along with Trump’s message of being a political outsider, another major theme of his campaign has been putting the interests of American citizens first and preventing unauthorized immigration.
“I really do see a parallel between what’s happening in the United States and what’s happening here,” Trump said speaking from his golf course in Scotland. “People want to see borders. They don’t necessarily want people poring into their country that they don’t know who they are and where they come from, they have no idea.”
Trump addressed the stock market fallout after the Brexit vote, but predicted the immediate economic shock won’t last long.
“If the pound goes down, they’ll do more business,” he said. “I think places like Scotland and England, I think you’re going to see a lot of activity. I think it could well turn out to be a positive.”
Trump also predicted more European countries may consider breaking with the EU.
“You’re going to have more than just what happened last night,” he said. “You’re going to have, I think, many other cases where they want to take their borders back, they want to take their monetary back, they want to take a lot of things back. They want to be a country again.”
