This is a populist conservative revolt among people who feel they have been misled and misruled for too long. They are skeptical of experts, because they’ve so often been wrong, and immune to warnings of economic risk because they have lived with risk their entire lives…
Populist conservatism is fine for a primary season, when it’s about registering discontent. To send a message to the powerful, sometimes you have to shout. But as we’ve moved towards the general election phase, the idea of Trump the candidate becoming Trump the President causes one to stop shouting and think: We know what he is against but what is he for? And while he might not be responsible for the violence at his rallies, do we want that violence in the White House?
This is the problem now bedeviling Leave. It has to win undecideds who, by their very nature, lack the passion to be willing to join a holy crusade.
The EU referendum has proven that a constituency for anti-establishment anger exists in Britain. On Thursday we shall discover if it has a majority.
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