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Actress Emma Thompson: Donald Trump is a White Nationalist Like Brexit Politician Nigel Farage

StoryAugust 26, 2016
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On Wednesday, British politician Nigel Farage joined Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Mississippi. Farage was one of the leaders of Britain’s campaign to leave the European Union, known as “Brexit.” Trump has praised Brexit, saying the British people had “taken back their country.” We speak with Academy Award-winning actress Emma Thompson about Brexit and Donald Trump.

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This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: Emma, I wanted—I wanted you to weigh in on U.S. politics, because one of your countrymen just came here. You may not know this, because you were in the Arctic. But—

EMMA THOMPSON: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, Donald Trump, you know, has called climate change a hoax. Well, on Wednesday, British politician Nigel Farage joined Trump at a campaign rally in Mississippi. He’s one of the leaders, of course, of Britain’s campaign to leave the European Union, known as “Brexit.” I’m telling everyone else, not you, Emma—you know. Trump has praised Brexit, saying the British people had, quote, “taken back their country.” Well, Farage didn’t endorse Trump exactly on Wednesday, but he did slam Hillary Clinton. This is what he said.

NIGEL FARAGE: If I was an American citizen, I wouldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton if you paid me. … You can go out. You can beat the pollsters. You can beat the commentators. You can beat Washington. And you’ll do it by doing what we did for Brexit in Britain.

AMY GOODMAN: That’s Nigel Farage, who was the leader of the Brexit movement.

EMMA THOMPSON: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: Emma Thompson, now that you’ve heard what he had to say, your comments of his foray into U.S. election politics?

EMMA THOMPSON: Well, there are no words, really. Nigel Farage is a—you know, I mean, he’s a nationalist. He’s a white nationalist. And that’s what Donald Trump is. And so, it’s very—it’s very distressing to hear—

AMY GOODMAN: And what do you mean by “white nationalist”?

EMMA THOMPSON: —to hear him at all, ever.

AMY GOODMAN: When you say “white nationalist,” what do you mean?

EMMA THOMPSON: I mean, I feel that, in some ways, the less said about Donald Trump, the better. But I do see that it is a terrifying situation. And actually, Mr. Prashad, who I was listening to earlier, was so wonderful on the subject, because he said, from the outside looking in, one of the things that, actually, I—I mean, obviously, if I were an American citizen, I’d be voting for Clinton. And one of the reasons for that is that she understands the reality of climate change. It is extraordinary that any person with anything really between their two ears could deny climate change at this point. I mean, that is an act of such extraordinary denial in the face of 98 percent of the world’s scientists coming out and saying, “Actually, you know what? It is.” Even the IPCC, which is normally quite a sort of gentle commentator on it, says we’re in really big trouble now, and we really have to act. So, if he does get into power, he’s going to have an awful lot to deal with on that front. But it is terrifying from every point of view. I did agree with Mr. Prashad, though. I agreed with the fact that whichever—

AMY GOODMAN: Emma Thompson, we’re going to have to leave it there. That does it for our show. Academy Award-winning actress and longtime activist.

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