by Chris Jennewein
The electoral earthquake that left the British Conservative Party without a majority in Parliament weeks before beginning negotiations to leave the European Union is a warning for President Trump’s America.
Britain’s Millennial generation, lulled by a decade of relatively quiet politics, failed to turn out for the Brexit referendum last year and were startled when they realized their European future was lost. On Thursday they paid back the older generation in spades, turning out in unprecedented numbers to elect Labor Party candidates.
It was an echo of the Bernie Sanders movement in the United States, and a warning of what could happen to Republican majorities in the House and Senate in 2018.
Because of Brexit, young voters in Britain learned the basic lesson of Democracy: you have to vote. And when American Millennials next have the opportunity to vote, it will be another earthquake.
“We’ve had Trump, we’ve had Brexit, and both were instances where people thought it was never going to happen and didn’t bother to vote. Those surprise results made it more important for people to vote for what they believe in,” said Anthony Wells, director of political and social opinion polling at YouGov, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
Some early tremors of this coming earthquake are already being felt:
Less than a third of Millennials of all races approve of President Trump’s performance, according to the GenForward Project at the University of Chicago
American Millennials never liked Trump or his platform. They favor globalization, appreciate immigrants, like Obamacare and believe climate change is a major problem. They don’t listen to 60-something hosts on AM talk radio and have probably never tuned to Fox News.
They’re angry now—just like their counterparts in Britain—because the world they expected was unexpectedly taken from them.
During the campaign, Trump boasted of a populist movement that is “Brexit Times 10.” In 2018, Trump and the Republican party could face an equally dramatic failure.
Chris Jennewein is editor and publisher of Times of San Diego which, along with The Moderate Voice, is a member of the San Diego Online News Association. This article is reprinted from that website.