WASHINGTON, D.C., United States – UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage was in studio with radio show host Laura Ingraham this week to discuss the rise of UKIP, America’s political establishment, Vladimir Putin, and even Piers Morgan.
You can listen to the whole interview, spanning 26 minutes, here.
On the possibility of Jeb Bush running in the 2016 presidential election race, Mr Farage said: “He represents the Establishment. He represents more of the same. He represents the kind of Republican following of Romney… Democrats have an advantage here with the changing population, so for the Republicans to win they need someone who is actually going to inspire people, and I’m not quite sure Jeb Bush ticks that box.”
On Obama, Mr Farage said: “America has lost authority because if you think of all of the horrible things that have been going on over the course of the last month or two, where has Obama been? On the golf course. On the golf course, and he comes back and makes a press conference. But whether people agreed with what American presidents did or did not do, I think America’s standing in the world is really somewhat lower than it was because of your current president.”
Discussing the crisis in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin, Mr Farage commented: “The European Union has been sending a message now for over ten years and David Cameron, one of the strongest cheerleaders, saying to the Ukrainians, ‘We want you to join our ever wider union and become part of the European empire.’ And at the same time we’ve had people like Obama this week even more stupidly saying he wants the Ukraine to join NATO; we’ve announced we’re going to do military exercises next year in the Ukraine. Now I don’t dispute that Mr. Putin may be a gangster… but can we use our brains please? Because if you poke the bear with a stick and you directly threaten the Russian bear by taking your military alliance and your political alliance up to his border rather than leaving the Ukraine as a buffer state, don’t be surprised when he tries to bite back.”
On authentic politicians, the UKIP leader noted: “British politics has been transformed…when I was a boy, our Parliament was full of real people with life experience before going into politics…our leaders in Britain now, virtually all go to the same school, all go to the same Oxford College, all do the same degree, none of them have ever worked… They lack authenticity… I’m deeply flawed…should I hide that? […] No, there’s no point, and that’s what the rest of them do. The rest of them try and make out they are different human beings than what they are. And I think, that, actually, voters know, voters actually quite like people who have got a few flaws because the voters are flawed themselves too. So this sort of, shiny bright, perfect, image that a politician tries to give, and the picture of him with the wife and the kids, I don’t think people need that. I think what they want to know is why are you in politics? Are you in politics because you actually want to do something or are you in politics for rank and position?”
He explained one of the reasons for UKIP’s successes: “There was a total disenchantment between the so-called the right and the left that have now merged. They’re all social democrats. Frankly, you can’t put a piece of paper between them on the big policy issues.”
Critics such as Piers Morgan have railed at Farage and UKIP, calling them “xenophobes”. Mr Farage had this to say on the matter: “[He] is one of the high priests of the metropolitan media elites who does not understand how people feel, and who deliberately attempts to misrepresent that controlling immigration is a rational, logical, sensible thing to do.”
Finally, on the future of politics, Mr Farage said: “The key battle today is about community and identity. Who are we as nations? Who are we as communities? How do we want to live? This stuff is all being threatened directly by excessive immigration and by things like how small businesses are being closed down and our community is changing. The politics of the future is about community and identity.”
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