Whilst many disregard the similarities between Trump and Brexit I can’t help but see the big elephant in the room. Brexit was a shot in the dark for voters, the government offered no alternative plan for leaving the EU and the media laughed and labelled it “economic suicide”.
But of course, the media had it wrong, so did the polls and the betting agencies. So what’s really going on?
The foundations of both campaigns, that is, Brexit and Trump are built on the same principal. The leave campaign was built on a belief that the UK could take back their borders outside of the EU, a return of the good old British days. It’s this kind of nostalgia that warms the hearts of the older generation, and the poorest people negatively impacted by rapidly evolving globalisation.
There is a consensus amongst some that Leave voters are unintelligent, politically ignorant and racist. After all, the slogan “take back our borders” is pretty self explanatory. But there comes a point in history where the status quo becomes so unbearable that even the alternative seems attractive.
Trump is a very controversial character, he has had his many rounds of political upsets and insults. His opponent Clinton, also has skeletons in her closet which makes this year’s US elections feel less of a serious political event. But like Brexit, Trump doesn’t really have a plan. He hasn’t explained how or why he plans to save America from its darkest days, but the people can be reassured by his campaigns slogan that America will be great again once he’s elected.
The two parallels should ring alarm bells for those in disbelief that Trump could well be the next President of the United States.
If he is elected, how will markets react to the news? How will businesses and overseas foreign investors react? A Trump victory has the potential to rattle markets which could lead to huge losses in the value of the Dollar.
Whilst Brexit remains the number one global risk, Trump could quite easily be number two.