I want to deviate slightly from my regular articles to share this with you. Let me tell you why. In Trump’s new America, he is now actively seeking to export the pain and suffering you are all being forced to endure to my country and Europe. He wants to export a society where tolerance, inclusion and diversity are being sacrificed at the altar of racism and bigotry.
As a proud Brit and even prouder Yorkshireman, I want to state for the record that WE WILL triumph over this imported tsunami of hatred and division being imposed on us by a single-issue corporation led by a charlatan. There is no question that the UK has a long history of having a racist underbelly hiding in the shadows. It has flared up occasionally in recent history as we opened our doors to those fleeing persecution and violence. We are no exception when it comes to being forced to tackle intolerance and discrimination.
However, this time it’s different for one reason and one reason alone: Donald J Trump and his vision for a white, Christian Nationalist nation. To date, Europe and the UK have only brushed against the export of his hate and intolerance, but that is now history as the MAGA ideology is being injected into British and European society via social media and Trump’s alliance with the monster that is Nigel Farage. This is a man who has modelled himself on Trump and often shares a stage with the leadership of the Heritage Foundation. He is plugged into the hard right propaganda machine, and he is literally taking their money while cutting and pasting their talking points for use in a made-for-the-UK, racially charged campaign designed to divide and conquer.
In this country, we didn’t have Fox News, so we have been mainly protected from a mainstream media assault from the right. However, this has all changed in the last four years, and we now have GB News. As noted by clearlypr.com in a piece by Paul MacKenzie-Cummins:
In just four years, GB News has gone from fledgling broadcaster to the UK’s most-watched TV news channel- overtaking both BBC News and Sky News for the first time.
According to BARB, the channel averaged 80,600 daily viewers in July, compared to 78,700 for BBC News and 67,000 for Sky. It now dominates key slots including breakfast, primetime, and the influential Sunday political hour.
One of the other reasons Farage was in Washington this week, aside from his appearance in Congress, was his meeting with Trump, and his attendance at The National Conservative Conference as a featured speaker. He was also there to mark the launch of the Washington Bureau of GB News. This will deliver right-wing propaganda directly into British homes each day, then cut up segments into racial baiting soundbites for distribution via social media. It makes me feel physically sick because this sees the start of an all-out war on British democracy by a man who is attempting to trade democracy in the UK for self-enrichment and thirty pieces of silver from the MAGA establishment.
I cannot tell you what a dangerous milestone this is, not just for democracy in my country, but for democracy across Europe. Rest assured, the GB News model will soon find its way across Europe to support the surge of the far right already endorsed by the White House. This includes the far right in Germany.
As I write this, Farage has captured the same 30% of thugs and fake patriots Trump did after he lost the election in 2024. Unlike the US, we have first-hand experience in Europe of fascism in action from 1930s Germany, but this is a whole new ballgame that will be fought in the social media space by Reform UK. This leaves us the 70%, and we will need to hold the line against a Limited company, not a political party, as a corporation attempts to overthrow the government. It will do this using a bottomless pit of dark money from the US and European oligarchs.
This country has already been crippled by the nationalist isolationism of Brexit that fractured the UK economy and has led to the loss of at least £100 billion EVERY YEAR since.
We have witnessed first hand the implementation of the US hard right economic agenda of unfunded tax cuts for the rich under a Liz Truss, a Trump fangirl who could not outlast a rotting lettuce, as she presided over the most catastrophic budget that wiped £30 billion from the UK economy overnight, causing mortgage costs to skyrocket, which have still not recovered to this day.
I have fought alongside US advocates for Democracy since 2019, because I feared the only way to protect my country was to help Americans preserve their own democracy. We may have failed to date, but I’m not sure about you. I haven’t given up, and the lessons learned alongside you, my friends, will serve us well in the battle ahead. A battle that will need to be fought on both continents.
I’d like you to take a moment to watch this clip.
In Trump and Farage’s world, Musharaf, the young man featured in this clip, is guilty of two things. Being Muslim and having a speech impediment. The former would see him at risk of being abducted by masked men and detained. The latter would view him as having little value to society because he would be viewed as a potential drag on the economy.
In my country, he is part of a community that saw him as a boy in need of help. A young man worthy of investment from teachers who believe everyone deserves an opportunity to achieve. Do we face problems? Absolutely, we do, not only in terms of immigration, but in underfunded education and social programs. We are no different to the US in that respect.
Why? Because we chose to do precisely what the US has done and feed the rich at the expense of the poor and the vulnerable. To subsidise the low wages companies pay with taxpayer money that should be used to support the community, fund better education, and fund health and social care.
We, too, have allowed the right to weaponise a failing economy created by the greed of the rich and turn it against immigrants and the poor.
Undocumented immigrants account for less than 1% of the population, yet 30% of the population are prepared to burn down the government as punishment for a problem that is essentially the responsibility of the previous Conservative government. The very same government that has cost the UK £900 billion since Brexit.
I am determined that this country will not fall victim to Farage and his opportunist assault on the freedoms so many gave their lives to preserve. I will fight him and his sycophants to my last dying breath, because this country deserves better than to be raped by the oligarchs he is aiding and abetting to seize control of my country and impose economic slavery.
Musharaf is a son of all of us, and I want every student, black, brown, gay, or straight, to know what opportunity feels like in a tolerant, supportive society. No student should live in a country ruled by Nigel Farage as a proxy for US corporations seeking to strip mine this country.
The clip above was filmed 12 years ago. Thanks to the time invested by his teacher, Matthew Burton, Musharaf "Mushy" Asghar not only passed his speaking test, he went on to graduate from university, and in his acceptance speech, he declared
"From sitting in the classroom and contemplating if life would ever accept me for having a stammer, to going to university and graduating. I can’t sum up in words how proud I am and how much my teachers changed my life. You can truly achieve anything you put your mind to!"
He has now overcome his stammer and is a successful motivational speaker. He uses his story to spread awareness about stammering and advocate for the power of teaching. We cannot let these monsters divide us.
We all just need to find our voice like Musharaf did and use it to defend the common good. We are all in this fight together, and our collective commitment provides us with the best opportunity to triumph over tyranny.
As part of my ongoing commitment to the preservation of democracy, I will be publishing an additional Substack called ‘The Battle for Britain’, dedicated to UK politics, to help in the fight to ensure that Farage never gains entry to Number 10 Downing Street. If you are currently a UK or European-based Truth Matters subscriber who would like to join and support this new channel, or are just an American who wants to show your support for Britain’s fight, I’ll drop a link here on Substack when the first article is published.
I hope you all resist and overcome. It feels maddening here. We know the majority of people are against this, but money is power. We don’t know how to overcome this if the rich and their supporters aren’t playing by the rules. Please resist. Educate and resist.
I was a teacher my whole life and am so happy to see how educators helped this young man. That is nothing short of amazing. Thanks for sharing the story!