“I used to wonder how it was possible that Farage could have won in place in parliament given how emotionally toxic, morally vacant, and psychologically mangled he is. I do not wonder anymore. He won for that exact reason. He was not a candidate. He was a mirror. If you were a racist, you found your man. If money was your only religion, you found your man. If your heart was armoured shut, you found your man. If you had done absolutely nothing to confront your emotional wreckage, you found your man. If you stiffed honest workers, you found your man. If you were a conman, you found your man. If you were unconscionable in every economic dealing, you found your man. If you lied as naturally as breathing, you found your man. If you were a white supremacist, you found your man. If your ego contained a hole so large not even the MP’s role could fill it, you found your man. man. If he had only two of these traits, he never would have won. He won because he had hundreds of them, and millions of people recognized themselves in at least one. This has never been about Farage. It has always been about the people who finally had their worst instincts validated. Farage did not create the cruelty, he licensed it. He handed out permission slips for hate. He is merely a symptom of a far deeper disease: collective toxicity. If there is one sentence that explains Farage’s power, it is this: “He says the things I’m thinking.” That is the part that should chill the spine. Who knew that tens of millions of Americans were thinking such unconscionable things about their fellow citizens? Who knew how many white men felt so threatened by women and challenged by minorities that they were ready to torch democracy to feel big again? Who knew that after decades of apparent progress on race and gender, so many people were living in seething resentment, waiting for a demagogue to legitimize their worst selves and convert their bitterness into political power? We were living in a fool’s paradise. We aren’t anymore." — Michael Jochum