TIME reports that on the heels of a controversial UK referendum that has been widely tied to anti-immigrant and anti-refugee sentiment, British politician and “Brexit” leader Nigel Farage will attend next week’s GOP convention in Cleveland.
Farage won’t say which Republican leader or leaders invited him to the convention, only conceding that “it was not Trump.”
“I do know a lot of people in the Republican Party,” Farage said, “and I’ll be interested to hear what Donald Trump has to say in his big speech.”
Farage should know what Trump’s speech might be like — he’s been seeing it back home. Earlier this month, multiple news organizations reported that hate crimes in the UK have “soared to five times the usual level following the Brexit vote.”
Polish families have been among the targets of the more than 330 incidents reported as of July 1st, a number of the verbal abuse mirroring the “Go back to your country!” rhetoric we have seen from many of Trump’s supporters.
Farage himself said in 2014 that he would feel “concerned” to have Romanian people living next door to him, and in 2013 said the British government should accept more Syrian refugees — but only if they are Christian.
Farage’s visit to Cleveland — along with news that large congregations of violent white supremacists will be in attendance as well — further cements this gathering for what it really is: the Republican Nativist Convention.
