Brexit 2.0: How 'Trexit' Will Change Campaign Strategies Globally
With Donald Trump’s historic presidential election victory reverberating globally, KT zu Guttenberg, former German Minister of Economics under Angela Merkel, weighed in on reactions in Europe to the U.S. election, comparisons to the U.K. vote to leave the European Union and how Trump’s win is causing politicians to reevaluate their campaign strategies.
“Honestly, I was also surprised. I was in Hamburg last morning, and yesterday morning and I looked into the same frozen faces that I saw just right after the Brexit, so there was that kind of déjà vu reaction,” Guttenberg told the FOX Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo.
Guttenberg explained that many leaders across Europe are still puzzled over what Donald Trump stands for, particularly on issues such as foreign policy.
“For me it’s hard, with an international background, with a foreign policy background, to actually understand or get a grip on what does he [Donald Trump] stand for. What will be his wider, his wider scheme and take on foreign policy? And that’s exactly the reaction you get from every single capital across Europe right now.”
Guttenberg reacted to the wording of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s congratulations to Donald Trump.
“I think her remark was rather unusual for her to say, to tie it to shared values but then to come up and actually tell everybody, well this means human dignity, this means that we respect gender, that we respect different races, that we respect everything. So we will cooperate on the basis of that. So, it’s [a] surprising move by Angela Merkel. I think she will reach out quite professionally, not in an embracing way, but you see already how uncomfortable many do feel at the moment.”
Guttenberg then weighed in on the parallels between Donald Trump’s election win and Brexit and why it is a game changer for planning campaigns.
“Definitely, there are a lot of parallels of what means to use to actually capture and attract people who are extremely tired of the so-called establishment. And that’s nothing you have solely in the U.S., you have that in almost every single European member state. And there are a lot of concerns right now that they say, ‘okay, here we have the blueprint, now to do it.”
According to Guttenberg, politicians will now look to Donald Trump’s blueprint as a strategy to win elections across Europe.
“We see populism as a means to come to power and you have that across the borderlines in the European Union.”