By Jordain Carney - 07-04-16 11:51 AM EDT
Secessionists say the rise of Donald Trump amid a no-holds-bar election year and Britain's decision to leave the European Union are giving their own causes a shot in the arm.
Members of a handful of separatist groups told The Atlantic that interest in their respective organizations has increased with the "Brexit" vote and separate populist frustration driving the U.S. presidential election.
"Trump has certainly been good for business, and Brexit has been as well. There's been a lot of interest since the vote took place," Rob Williams, publisher of The Vermont Independent, told the magazine.
"People are looking at the circus that is the presidential election and realizing that it's just a symptom of a much larger issue," Daniel Miller, the president of the Texas Nationalist Movement, added.
Their comments come in the wake of the historic vote last month by the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, ending a decades-long membership in the organization.
While that vote has sparked backlash within the UK, it spawned a myriad of hashtags about potential secession plans including "Texit" and "Calexit."
The hashtags refer to a push for Texas or the California to secede from the United States. While Texas Republican battled over the issue at their state convention in May, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) downplayed talk of a split late last month.
Both bids are uphill fights that are all but guaranteed not to happen.
No comments:
Post a Comment