Will Farage's Trumpian strategy work against him? He has good reason to believe it won't | Samuel Earle

"At times, in his evasiveness and discomfort, he has looked like that most un-Farage of things: a nervous politician, anxious not to say the wrong word. Last week, however, he angrily returned to his preferred posture: brimming with indignation at the moral hypocrisy of elites. He lashed out at the BBC's double standards for indulging the allegations, when the broadcaster itself showed racist jokes and skits back in those days."

"His dismissal of the many credible allegations was unsettling; his reference to a lower grade BBC journalist was nasty; he appeared thin-skinned, incoherent, almost deranged; everyone seemed to agree that Farage should have simply said sorry and sought to move on. But in this understandable distaste, it was also possible to detect a certain complacency: a belief that Farage had overstepped the mark and would suffer the consequences, that any behaviour deemed Trumpian was a losing strategy."

"Farage has every reason to believe that such assumptions are false. Despite (or because of) the blowback, Farage probably considers his rant a success. It put him back on the attack, transgressing social norms and setting the news agenda. The rightwing media sphere, which Farage knows he can rely on, lapped it up. The Daily Mail splashed the story on Friday's front page with the words: Reform UK leader turns tables on broadcaster."

Allegations of racist and antisemitic school bullying against Nigel Farage multiplied, and his responses oscillated between evasiveness and indignant attack. He sometimes appeared nervous and cautious, then returned angrily to accusing elites and castigating the BBC for alleged double standards, arguing that the broadcaster should apologise for past content rather than him. Commentators from the left and centre reacted with shock, ridicule and calls for apology. Many assumed Farage had overstepped and would be punished politically. Farage likely views the backlash as a success, having set the news agenda and secured enthusiastic amplification from rightwing media outlets.

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