Episode 5464: Brexit 10 Years Later; The Deal Behind The SpaceX IPO

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Bannon`s War Room 54 min 2 speakers 4 chapters transcribed 2 months ago

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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

What happened in the 2016 Brexit vote and why does this episode mark its 10th anniversary?

Unknown 0:00

It marks the 10th anniversary of Britain's 2016 vote to leave the European Union. Many are still asking that question. At the time, much of the world still lived under the post-Cold War order, globalized, open and governed by shared rules. When Brexit's Leave campaign promised to take back control, for millions that slogan answered a growing unease about where that open world was headed. They wanted tighter borders and to reclaim an eroding sense of national sovereignty. In addition, Brexit's leading advocates saw another opportunity to remake Britain as Singapore on Thames. This was a vision of a buccaneering, deregulated, low-tax competitor right on Europe's doorstep, which would strike great trade deals with the wider world and in particular with the United States.

Unknown 0:52

But a decade on, that order has come apart. The US elected Donald Trump just months after the referendum. Brexit supporters who cheered his victory as vindication found an uncertain world of trade barriers and a weaker transatlantic alliance. Even Singapore, Britain's supposed model, has warned that this new era would be very hostile for punchy economies built on openness to global trade. And in any case, Britain never built that nimble Singaporean-style economy. Boris Johnson governed as a big spender who briefly pushed the country to its highest tax burden since the end of World War II. Economist argues the real issue is that Brexit lingers like a toxin in the economy's bloodstream, binding itself to long-standing weaknesses, from higher energy costs to weak investment.

Unknown 1:45

Harder still to measure is the cost of everything else Britain did not do while its politics were consumed by a revolving door of leaders at No. 10 Downing Street and an endless argument over how exactly to leave the EU, knowing every version of that answer would make it poorer. King's College London finds that the share who say Brexit is going worse than they expected has nearly doubled in five years, from 28% in 2021 to 48% today. But while many feel bregret, the man who did more than anyone to bring it about is closer to power than ever. Nigel Farage's Reform UK, a revived version of his Eurosceptic UK Independence Party, leads the national polls and swept last month's local elections, eroding the century-long dominance of Labour and the Conservatives.

Unknown 2:40

Ten years on, Brexit continues to define Britain's voting lines. Reform has absorbed much of the anti-EU coalition – older, more male, less likely to have a college degree – and driven, above all, by cultural anxiety over issues like immigration and race. The lesson of the past decade is that there are no clean exits and no clean returns either. As Martin Wolf of the FT argues, a reversal of Brexit would be unrealistic and, he argues, unnecessary. He advocates for a third way, modeled on Switzerland. It would not involve EU membership, but rather a patchwork of treaties to align closely with the bloc on trade, education, science and security. This is far from perfect. Britain would become a rule-taker in Europe rather than a rule-maker.

Unknown 3:33

But with the promised rewards of going it alone still nowhere to be seen, it may be a move worth making. You guys started warning that nobody can save you on this land. Nobody. You can join force with America, you can join force with NATO, you can join force with the whole Germany, and nobody can save you guys. Trust me, nobody gonna save you guys. They can put you on the middle with RPG, AK-47, they surround you more than 200 billion soldiers and you are on the middle. They cannot save you. Trust me.

Stephen K. Bannon 4:17

Tuesday, 23 June, in the year of our Lord. 2026, 10 years ago today, they were beginning the voting for Brexit. We didn't find out about it until... I don't know, about 10 or 11 o'clock in British time, late in the afternoon. Rahim Ghassam, who's over there today with Nigel Farage, going around doing commemorations and celebrations of Brexit, was running Breitbart London for me at the time. And we put our shoulder to the wheel for... about a couple of years on this topic.