First things first: Despite the temptation, I won't write this newsletter using any Britishisms. (I'd need more wine to do that.) [Editor's note: What do you mean more wine, Amber?] But today's political news is almost entirely dominated by what's happening across the pond — specifically, Britain's massive decision to leave the European Union. And we'd be remiss if we …
 
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First things first: Despite the temptation, I won't write this newsletter using any Britishisms. (I'd need more wine to do that.) [Editor's note: What do you mean more wine, Amber?] But today's political news is almost entirely dominated by what's happening across the pond — specifically, Britain's massive decision to leave the European Union. And we'd be remiss if we didn't Fix it for you.

Fix Boss Chris Cillizza made the Atlantic Ocean a little smaller by connecting the dots between Brexit (short-hand for the referendum) and Donald Trump's rise here in America. You should read his whole piece, but to save you a click, I'll summarize why the two are connected:

Immigration is out of control:: Immigration — and the idea that there's too much of it and it's fundamentally altering the character of Britain — was at the heart of the pro-Brexit (a.k.a. "leave") campaign. Sound familiar? An immigration backlash helped fuel Trump's rise from day one, when he mused about the character of Mexican immigrants.

Political leaders are clueless and corrupt:: The decision to leave was also a repudiation of, as Cillizza puts it, a "nameless, faceless government entity in Brussels," a.k.a. the home of the E.U. Back here, trust in virtually every major societal institution is also at or near historic lows:

Screen Shot 2016-06-24 at 6.53.11 AM

Consequences are overrated: More than any other, I think this parallel to Brexit could help explain why Trump is here to stay this general election. From Cillizza: "Voters didn't care about how Trump's Muslim ban played on the world stage (he went on to win the primary, after all). … Ditto British voters who were inundated with warnings about economic damage."

What did Trump himself have to say about the Brexit?

TrumpScotlandTweet

Generally, he likes it. Trump actually happens to be in the middle of a two-day trip to Scotland (world leaders to schmooze, golf courses in Turnberry to promote). He chatted with reporters over there, and, well, the whole news conference was classic, confident, bizarre Trump.

(Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

Cillizza annotated the entire news conference here. Here's a snippet from my favorite part, where Trump appears to say the Brexit will help his golf course:

QUESTION: [What's the] impact of what is taking operation here in Britain? The markets are ...

TRUMP: Right. Well, nobody knows. Look, if the pound goes down, they're going to do more business. You know, when the pound goes down, more people are coming to Turnberry, frankly.

Since we're asking, what did the entire Internet have to say about the Brexit?

A man types on a computer keyboard in Warsaw in this February 28, 2013 illustration file picture. High-level Chinese hackers recently tried to break into a key Canadian computer system, forcing Ottawa to isolate it from the main government network, a senior official said on July 29, 2014. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Files (POLAND - Tags: BUSINESS SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY)

(Reuters)

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"Get your oven mitts ready," says The Fix's Callum Borchers. "You're gonna need 'em to handle these hot takes on what Brexit means for American politics."

1. Brexit could make it harder for GOP leaders to steal the nomination from Trump. (Conservative site HotAir is trying to coin "Trexit" — Trump + Brexit.)
2. Forget Trexit. Texit could be next. As in, a Texas exit from the United States. Vox's Zach Beauchamp doesn't actually think that will happen (even though it's a real movement), but he wrote a story imaging as much as an elaborate analogy to explain Brexit.
3. Hillary Clinton should freak out: Says the Chicago Tribune's editorial board, comparing her to the E.U. and Trump to — what else? — Brexit.
4. Oh wait, no need to freak out. Brexit actually doesn't help Trump: So says Matthew Cooper at Newsweek. His argument is essentially that what happens in Europe stays in Europe.

Further proof you should only believe what you read on The Fix, yeah?

Speaking of: A Donald Trump gaffe that wasn't

As bizarre as Trump's news conference was, there was one moment that seemed early on like it might be particularly damaging. According to a well-circulated tweet from a British reporter, Trump said he didn't even know who former London mayor Boris Johnson — a leader of the pro-Brexit campaign — was.

TrumpBoris

The only problem? Trump never spoke those words, writes The Fix's Aaron Blake. That tweet has since been deleted, possibly because others at the news conference heard Trump say this:

"I'm sure he'll be good," Trump said of Johnson. "He got it right. Um, so that gives him an advantage."

How to liven up this weekend's dinner party

Enough Brexit. Here are your happy-hour talking points to ensure you're a great conversationalist this weekend when people get sick of talking about it.

If you're feeling mischievous, you could spiral an otherwise polite conversation into dinner-table no-no's like politics and race with one question. Just share this bit of info The Fix's Aaron Blake dug up in a new Pew Research Center survey: Did you know you're about as likely to marry outside your race as outside your political party?

Or if you're feeling ambitious, you could launch a debate about the selfie's place in politics. The Post's David Nakamura and Greg Jaffe write that, for better or worse, President Obama has become the selfie president. (Even though he is apparently really annoyed by it.) Selfies: Good for politics or bad? Discuss!

(Win McNamee/Getty Images)


Week. Over. (giphy.com)

Week. Over. (giphy.com)

 
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