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| US politicians read Brexit tea leaves and see opportunity to stoke populist flames | US politicians read Brexit tea leaves and see opportunity to stoke populist flames |
| (1 day later) | |
| US leaders scrambled on Sunday to tailor the British vote to leave the European Union to their own political agendas. | US leaders scrambled on Sunday to tailor the British vote to leave the European Union to their own political agendas. |
| Related: Kerry urges UK and European Union to 'minimize disruption' from Brexit split | Related: Kerry urges UK and European Union to 'minimize disruption' from Brexit split |
| Bernie Sanders, the Democratic presidential candidate beaten in the primary by Hillary Clinton, maintained his focus on economic issues, saying he saw “massive resentment throughout Europe and the UK, and within the US, about a global economy that works very well for large multinationals … but is not working in many ways for middle-class families”. | Bernie Sanders, the Democratic presidential candidate beaten in the primary by Hillary Clinton, maintained his focus on economic issues, saying he saw “massive resentment throughout Europe and the UK, and within the US, about a global economy that works very well for large multinationals … but is not working in many ways for middle-class families”. |
| Others identified anti-establishment feeling as a common force, fuelled by economic issues and resentment over immigration and policies regarding refugees from the civil war in Syria. | Others identified anti-establishment feeling as a common force, fuelled by economic issues and resentment over immigration and policies regarding refugees from the civil war in Syria. |
| Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker considered a potential vice-presidential pick for Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, told Fox News Sunday that the “wave building against the establishment is real”. | |
| Bob Corker, Republican chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, said the Brexit vote pointed to “the whole issue of refugees and immigration that’s changing the context of countries”. | Bob Corker, Republican chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, said the Brexit vote pointed to “the whole issue of refugees and immigration that’s changing the context of countries”. |
| Sanders was speaking to CNN’s State of the Union. He continued: “People are worried to death about the future of this country and what happens to their kids. | Sanders was speaking to CNN’s State of the Union. He continued: “People are worried to death about the future of this country and what happens to their kids. |
| “The question is, with all of the increase in technology and productivity, and all of this great global economy, why is it that the middle class continues to shrink and the gap between the very rich and everybody grows wider and wider and we have 47 million people in this country living in poverty?” | “The question is, with all of the increase in technology and productivity, and all of this great global economy, why is it that the middle class continues to shrink and the gap between the very rich and everybody grows wider and wider and we have 47 million people in this country living in poverty?” |
| The British vote represented a clear call for an “economy that works for all of us and not just the people on top”, he said. | The British vote represented a clear call for an “economy that works for all of us and not just the people on top”, he said. |
| In the Republican ranks, Florida senator Marco Rubio, now seeking re-election after failing to secure the presidential nomination, sounded a Sanders-esque note when he said: “I think it’s good to hold the elites and the fancy economists and the Congress accountable for the decisions they make.” | |
| But he rejected the idea that protectionism or preventing jobs from going abroad offered a solution. Policymakers, Rubio said, should “figure out how it is we can embrace a new economy we cannot avoid”. | |
| “The future cannot be stopped,” he said. “It’s going to happen. Whether we like it or not, automation’s going to happen. The nature of the economy is going to continue to change.” | “The future cannot be stopped,” he said. “It’s going to happen. Whether we like it or not, automation’s going to happen. The nature of the economy is going to continue to change.” |
| Corker – another spoken of as a possible Trump VP – said what had happened in the UK created “some degree of anticipation and excitement” and added that he would welcome the British vote if it caused people to recognise “that the direction we’re going is not a good direction”. | Corker – another spoken of as a possible Trump VP – said what had happened in the UK created “some degree of anticipation and excitement” and added that he would welcome the British vote if it caused people to recognise “that the direction we’re going is not a good direction”. |
| “Almost the entire establishment in the UK was in the remain camp,” he said. “Look, there’s something in our society, it’s happening in western societies, where there’s tremendous anxiety over economic stagnation, the whole issue of refugees and immigration that’s changing the context of countries, and then this faceless bureaucracy that’s not really responding to people. | |
| “So the genius of what’s happened with the candidacy of Donald Trump is he has given voice to that, just as was given in the UK recently. | “So the genius of what’s happened with the candidacy of Donald Trump is he has given voice to that, just as was given in the UK recently. |
| “The question is: can we take this moment and shape it into something that’s great for the American people? It’s our job to make something good out of this.” | “The question is: can we take this moment and shape it into something that’s great for the American people? It’s our job to make something good out of this.” |
| The American people [have] to draw closer to the people of Great Britain, the United Kingdom or whatever is left of that | The American people [have] to draw closer to the people of Great Britain, the United Kingdom or whatever is left of that |
| Referring to remarks made by Barack Obama before the vote about trade deals with a UK that had left the European Union, Corker added: “It’s not good to talk about ‘going to the back of the queue’. | Referring to remarks made by Barack Obama before the vote about trade deals with a UK that had left the European Union, Corker added: “It’s not good to talk about ‘going to the back of the queue’. |
| “If anything, the response of the American people has got to be to draw closer to the people of Great Britain, the United Kingdom or whatever is left of that.” | “If anything, the response of the American people has got to be to draw closer to the people of Great Britain, the United Kingdom or whatever is left of that.” |
| Others also also used the vote to score political points. On Fox News Sunday, Gingrich rejected Clinton’s assertion that the Brexit vote “underscores the need for calm, steady experienced leadership in the White House”, which the Clinton campaign backed up on Sunday with a new ad criticising Trump’s reaction to the vote while opening a golf resort in Scotland. | Others also also used the vote to score political points. On Fox News Sunday, Gingrich rejected Clinton’s assertion that the Brexit vote “underscores the need for calm, steady experienced leadership in the White House”, which the Clinton campaign backed up on Sunday with a new ad criticising Trump’s reaction to the vote while opening a golf resort in Scotland. |
| “It’s hysterical,” Gingrich said. “She was wrong on Brexit and wanted the remain vote to win. She was wrong on Libya, and said it was better if we knocked off Gaddafi. She was wrong on the reset with Russia. What has she been right about?” | “It’s hysterical,” Gingrich said. “She was wrong on Brexit and wanted the remain vote to win. She was wrong on Libya, and said it was better if we knocked off Gaddafi. She was wrong on the reset with Russia. What has she been right about?” |
| Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell appeared on ABC News’s This Week. Asked if Trump’s response – to say the falling pound meant more Americans would visit his golf courses – had been suitably presidential, he took the chance to change the subject. | Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell appeared on ABC News’s This Week. Asked if Trump’s response – to say the falling pound meant more Americans would visit his golf courses – had been suitably presidential, he took the chance to change the subject. |
| “I’ll tell you who really had a bad week,” he said. “[It] was President Obama, because his 2012 campaign manager [Jim Messina] ran the remain campaign in England. He suggested the president come over and get right in the middle of that. Obviously, that had little or no impact.” | “I’ll tell you who really had a bad week,” he said. “[It] was President Obama, because his 2012 campaign manager [Jim Messina] ran the remain campaign in England. He suggested the president come over and get right in the middle of that. Obviously, that had little or no impact.” |
| McConnell added: “And I think what you saw in England, at least from what I read, is that people got tired of being dictated to by unelected bureaucrats in Brussels. | McConnell added: “And I think what you saw in England, at least from what I read, is that people got tired of being dictated to by unelected bureaucrats in Brussels. |
| “And, of course, we have a lot of that here in this country. A lot of the president’s bureaucrats expanding regulations in a way that slows our economy and makes it difficult for us to have growth.” | |
| Related: US and UK special relationship is 'enduring', Obama says after Brexit | Related: US and UK special relationship is 'enduring', Obama says after Brexit |
| While Obama travelled back to Washington from Seattle, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, was in Rome ahead of crucial visits to Brussels and London on Monday. He said both he and Obama were “absolutely convinced” that “we will be able to work through this in a sensible, thoughtful way”. | While Obama travelled back to Washington from Seattle, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, was in Rome ahead of crucial visits to Brussels and London on Monday. He said both he and Obama were “absolutely convinced” that “we will be able to work through this in a sensible, thoughtful way”. |
| That way, Kerry said, would “take the best strengths of the EU, the best strengths of the marketplace, the best interests of our national security and international security, and work to keep them moving in the right direction for our countries”. | That way, Kerry said, would “take the best strengths of the EU, the best strengths of the marketplace, the best interests of our national security and international security, and work to keep them moving in the right direction for our countries”. |
| The US, he added, would continue “to have a very close and special relationship with Great Britain. We value that relationship. That does not change because of this vote.” | The US, he added, would continue “to have a very close and special relationship with Great Britain. We value that relationship. That does not change because of this vote.” |
| McConnell also expressed faith in the special relationship. | McConnell also expressed faith in the special relationship. |
| “You know,” he said, “we’ve always been very close with the British. The only other bilateral relationship in the world that’s anywhere near this close would be our relationship with Israel.” | “You know,” he said, “we’ve always been very close with the British. The only other bilateral relationship in the world that’s anywhere near this close would be our relationship with Israel.” |