United Kingdom Votes To Leave The European Union

BBC: “Leave Wins The Referendum And The UK Will Quit The EU.” People in the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union with 51.9 percent of the vote. U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron announced that he “will step down as prime minister by October.” [BBC, 6/24/16]

Right-Wing Media Say Brexit Is A Referendum On Democrats, Claims Trump Looks “Like A Genius”

Breitbart News: “Britain Votes With Trump, Against Hillary, Obama.” In an article titled “Brexit: Britain Votes With Trump, Against Hillary, Obama,” Breitbart News’ Joel Pollak argued that voters were “defying the polls -- and president Barack Obama” by voting to leave the European Union. Pollak claimed the referendum results “paid off handsomely” for Trump “in the currency of foreign policy credibility” From Breitbart News’ June 24 article:

British voters chose to “leave” the European Union on Thursday, defying the polls — and President Barack Obama, who had urged Britain to “remain” in the EU. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had also urged Britain to stay in the EU. Only Donald Trump had backed the campaign to leave.

Republican strategists had panned Trump’s decision to travel to the UK in the midst of campaign turmoil, and in the wake of his blistering attack on Hillary Clinton earlier this week.

Now, however, it looks like a risk that paid off handsomely, in the currency of foreign policy credibility. [Breitbart News, 6/23/16]

Fox’s Tucker Carlson: Brexit “Is A Very, Very Ominous Sign For The Democrats In The United States.” Fox’s Tucker Carlson claimed that the referendum is “a very, very ominous sign for the Democrats in the United States” and, adding “If you’re the Trump campaign, you can take solace in” the referendum results. Carlson argued that Britain’s vote to leave the European Union is “about the preservation of a distinct country” that has “a distinct language and a culture.” From the June 24 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends:

TUCKER CARLSON: What's happening in the United States is not an anomaly. It's part of a global movement called nationalism. People have nation states for a reason. So, the people in charge, both in the U.K. and here, see themselves basically as citizens of the world -- we're all in this together. The average person does not see himself as a citizen of the world.

STEVE DOOCY (HOST): No. CARLSON: But a citizen of a distinct country with a distinct language and a culture, and that's just a foreign concept to the people in charge, and that's why you're seeing this revolt here and there. [...] I think this is a very, very ominous sign for the Democrats in the United States, and I don't think I'm overdrawing it. Again, look at what you saw. People voted yesterday, but they didn't tell pollsters how they were going to vote because it was seen as highly unfashionable, and yet they did it anyway. If you're the Trump campaign, I think you take real solace in that. DOOCY: Regarding the polls, are you suggesting that, in this country when pollsters call, people are reluctant to say, “Yeah I'm for Donald Trump,” because so many people in the mainstream media have said, “Well if you're for Donald Trump you're a racist, you're a bigot, you're all that stuff?” CARLSON: Well, of course. People lie to pollsters. Talk to any pollster and they'll tell you, people don't tell the truth, because the way you answer the question is a kind of virtue signalling. You're not just saying what you’re going to do; you're talking about the kind of person you are. [...] It's not about Trump and it's not about any politician, Le Pen in France, or whatever. It's about the preservation of a distinct country. Again, people made nation states for a reason. It was an organic process that grew out of human nature. People want to feel like they're part of a country, and the elites don't feel that way. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/24/16]

Fox’s Stuart Varney: “In American Political Terms, Hillary Lost.” Fox Business host Stuart Varney said of the presumptive Democratic and Republican presidential candidates that “in American political terms, Hillary [Clinton] lost and [Donald] Trump won” based on the results of the Brexit vote. From the June 24 edition of Fox & Friends:

PETE HEGSETH (HOST): What did the British people reject?

STUART VARNEY: Oh, I think there’s a direct parallel between what they voted on in Britain yesterday and what we will be voting on in November. The issues are the same: immigration, control your country, control your borders, control your own parliament, make your own laws for your own people, and, “We don’t like the elites. They’ve led us down the garden path. We’ve had enough of this. We’re not getting better off, we’re getting worse off. And you’re not telling us the truth.” So those three factors, they voted on in Britain yesterday. Same thing here. That’s why I say that in American political terms, Hillary lost, and Trump won. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/24/16]

Fox & Friends’ Steve Doocy: Trump “Looked Like A Genius” In Scotland Despite GOP’s Opposition To Mid-Campaign International Travel. Bill Hemmer said the “planets aligned” for Trump on the June 24 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends when the Brexit vote went the way he predicted while he was on a trip to Scotland. He added that it was “pretty extraordinary that he was at the right place at the right time,” and host Steve Doocy said Trump “looked like a genius” for backing Brexit and opposing GOP strategists that warned against the trip:

BILL HEMMER: This is -- the planets aligned this way? Trump announces he’s going to be in Scotland a month ago, to open up the redesign of his course, on the same day the vote comes out, and it goes in the favor that he was supporting, on the same weekend that Independence Day comes out in the movie theaters across America? What is going on around here?

STEVE DOOCY (HOST): Republican strategists had said “Donald Trump is out of his mind to leave during this vote.” He shows up. Of course, as we were talking earlier, the polls got it 180 degrees wrong. And suddenly when Trump took the podium there at his golf course in Scotland, he looked like a genius because he had said, you know, “People should get out.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/24/16]

Mainstream Media Highlight The Financial Consequences Of The Vote

NY Times: Brexit Vote “Sent Global Markets On A Wild Descent.” The New York Times reported that one of the “most immediate consequence[s]” of the Brexit vote was that it “sent global markets on a wild descent.” The Times pointed out,“Few expect that Britain’s departure from Europe will set off a full financial crisis. … But no one knows enough to rule that out, either.” From the June 23 Times article:

Of most immediate consequence, Britain’s vote to leave Europe sent global markets on a wild descent. Investors gaped at this major refashioning of the global landscape and decided it looked perilous — or at least so pockmarked with uncertainty that they preferred to pull their money out of riskier corners like stock markets.

Few expect that Britain’s departure from Europe will set off a full financial crisis like the one seen after the collapse of the investment banking giant Lehman Brothers in 2008.

But no one knows enough to rule that out, either. The world has never been here before. [The New York Times, 6/23/16]

Financial Times: “Britain Has Prospered Inside The EU But Will Not Do As Well Outside.” The Financial Times’ Martin Wolf reacted to the referendum, writing that “the most significant event in British history since the second world war” is “the beginning of an extended period of uncertainty that, in overwhelming probability, foreshadows a diminished future.” Wolf noted that the “pound has already plunged” since votes have been tallied, and “the view that, beyond this period, the UK will end up poorer than it would otherwise have been remains overwhelmingly probable.” From the Financial Times’ June 24 article:

David Cameron, the prime minister, took a huge gamble and lost. The fearmongering of Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Nigel Farage, The Sun and the Daily Mail has won. The UK, Europe, the west and the world are, this morning, damaged. The UK is diminished and will, quite possibly, end up divided. Europe has lost its second-biggest and most outward-looking power.

The hinge between the EU and the English-speaking powers has been snapped. This is quite probably the most significant event in British history since the second world war. It could mark an important moment in the west’s retreat from globalisation. It is, above all, a victory of the disappointed and fearful over those confident in the UK’s ability to adapt to change and lead in Europe. [...] The UK is now at the beginning of an extended period of uncertainty that, in overwhelming probability, foreshadows a diminished future. The Conservatives will now end up with new leadership. Whether they will manage to produce anything that can operate as a government is another matter. They then will have to do what the Brexiters failed so egregiously to do during their mendacious campaign, namely, map out a strategy and tactics for unravelling the UK’s connections with the EU. This will probably consume the energies of that government and its successors over many years. It will also involve making some huge decisions. But one point seems evident: the UK will bring in controls over immigration from the EU. That rules out membership of the single market. At best, the UK might participate in a free trade area in goods.

[...]

In the short term, however, it will be difficult for businesses to make such decisions sensibly. They just cannot know how the complex decisions to be taken will finish up. This uncertainty has always been the most obvious result of a vote to leave. It is now with us. Only time will clear this fog. But the view that, beyond this period, the UK will end up poorer than it would otherwise have been remains overwhelmingly probable. The UK did very well during its period inside the EU. It is unlikely to do anything like as well outside it. [Financial Times, 6/24/16]

The Guardian: In Wake Of Brexit Vote “World’s Biggest Companies Have Warned They Could Cut Jobs In Britain.” The Guardian’s Graham Ruddick wrote that after the referendum result, “markets around the world fell sharply” Graham reported, “Some of the world’s biggest companies have warned they could cut jobs in Britain and that their profits would be lower than expected,” adding, “Analysts warned there were likely to be ‘serious implications’ for the City of London from the vote.” From The Guardian’s June 24 article:

Some of the world’s biggest companies have warned they could cut jobs in Britain and that their profits would be lower than expected after the country voted to leave the European Union.

The investment bank JP Morgan warned staff that it might have to relocate jobs, while the owner of British Airways said profits for the year would now grow less than expected because of the volatility in the market. A South African company bidding for the discount retailer Poundland also warned it could pull out of a deal. Business leaders called for “immediate and unambiguous” action to shore up the economy and to guarantee that EU citizens have the right to remain in the UK. They welcomed David Cameron and Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, laying out a plan for the next three months.

[...]

Stock markets around the world fell sharply after the vreferendum (sic) result, with the FTSE 100 down 8% at one stage, including heavy falls for banks and housebuilders.

[...]

Analysts warned there were likely to be “serious implications” for the City of London from the vote. [The Guardian, 6/24/16]

ABC’s Rebecca Jarvis: “We’re Witnessing Panic … Around The Globe.” ABC financial reporter Rebecca Jarvis said “we’re witnessing panic. … not just here in the United States markets, but around the globe.” Jarvis explained that a number of Wall Street veterans expect “more volatility ahead.” From the June 24 edition of ABC’s Good Morning America:

REBECCA JARVIS: David, in a word, we’re witnessing panic. And that is not just here in the United States markets, but around the globe. World markets have been selling off in Japan. Stocks there are down 7.9 percent. Here in the United States, the DOW looks like it will open at a drop of 500 points lower. That would impact everyone’s 401K and IRA savings. There are companies here in the United States, from Ford to Caterpillar, who have said this could be a devastating blow to their business going forward.

[...]

But I’ve been talking to a number of Wall Street veterans, and they are telling me this morning, more volatility ahead is expected, because we have entered completely uncharted territory. [ABC, Good Morning America, 6/24/16]

NBC’s Olivia Sterns: “Wall Street’s Certainly Feeling The Pain.” NBC financial reporter Olivia Stern explained how “Wall Street’s certainly feeling the pain” from the Brexit, adding, “The biggest problem … is that this really ushers in all of this uncertainty, and that really is toxic to economic growth.” From the June 24 edition of NBC’s Today:

OLIVIA STERNS: Wall Street’s certainly feeling the pain. This is not what Wall Street expected. Many traders have been up overnight watching as billions of dollars have been wiped off global equities. I just spoke to one trader who’s in early. He’s expecting to see the busiest day of trading in two to three years. Right now, DOW futures set to open [400] to 500 points lower. That really is a huge move.

[...]

The biggest problem is though, Matt, is that this really ushers in all of this uncertainty, and that really is toxic to economic growth. [NBC, Today, 6/24/16]