Thread by @PandaScottish

[thread]

First of all - congratulations brexiteers you won

You won

No one can take that away from you

But

Brexit does/did not have to be like this

whether you voted leave, remain or did not vote

Whether you are now 18

whether you are a british citizen overseas (or those of 15 who was DELIBERATELY not enfranchised by the Tories despite a manifesto promise in 2015 to do so)

Brexit does/did not have to be like this

First of all

let me make it clear

I am not:

a remoaner
a traitor
the recipient of any monies from George Soros
an elite
a liberal elite
a metropolitan elite

I am british

I believe in Britain

What I don't believe in is unicorns

I am patiently awaiting the fulfilment of the promise of the glorious sunlit uplands of brexit

I want brexit to work

After all there is a brexit festival theme park to look forward to visiting

First of all we go way back in time to the days of Abraham Lincoln

“I should regret to see the day in which the people should cease to express intelligent, honest generous criticism upon the policy of their rulers.”

smithsonianmag.com/history/honest…

Or one Margaret S. Roberts

"No Candidate can promise a Utopia just by voting this way or that. "

"I promise to consider all matters of policy in this light, and in Parliament I should vote as my conscience and not party line dictates. I should carry out my task to the utmost of my ability, allowing myself no rest until the duties which fell to my lot were complete."

First of all

I intend to show empathy and respect

To both the sellers and the victims of the con of brexit

I am sad

Sad that the politicians who campaigned for brexit

Were so desperate

So eager

So shameless that they knew they could not win

Unless

They lied

They cheated

They peddled cakeist exceptionalist fantasy

They incited racism, xenophobia and islamophobia

They went for the age old tropes of globalisation, elites and demonisation of experts

After all in the aftermath of a global financial crash

There is fertile soil for such a playbook to work

The impact of austerity and its consequences on the poorest

The racism and xenophobia of "tens of thousands"

or "citizens of nowhere"

But in doing that playbook

You not only debase yourself

You show your utter contempt for the democracy you do it within

And upon the citizens whom you do it against

Now LISTEN TO ME CAREFULLY

NOT ALL LEAVE VOTERS ARE RACISTS

NOT ALL LEAVE VOTERS ARE IDIOTS

The people who thought that leave voters were idiots or could be persuaded by racism

Were leave politicians

Who knew *exactly* what they were peddling

They modelled, practiced and refined the lies, the cakeist fantasy and the racism they fuelled

Now I accept that there are over the course of many decades in the UK many politicians who legitimately held views on the direction of travel of european integration

I did not like what John Major called his Maastrict rebels

After all you play the ball not the man/woman

You did not have to debase yourselves to "win" it

And

You did not have to use the entire UK political landscape as a game to control the aftermath of brexit lashing out at any in this country who dare question the reality of that aftermath

I outlined the lies, the cheating, the cakeist fantasy and the racist xenophobia in the thread below

And it's ok I know your responses

Ah but the other side ....

Or

Ah but all politicians lie

https://twitter.com/PandaScottish/status/1130022491819323393

And I thank you as that confirms that you know the lies, the cheating and the racism that was used by the Leave campaign

You KNOW

You either sold lies deliberately

Or lies were used deliberately

So you have taken the first step

You already admit the lies, cheating, fantasy and racism that won it for Leave

And I pity you

The victims and sellers of those lies, cheating, fantasy and racism

Because you cannot hold your head high at how Leave was won

Brexit does/did not have to be like this

Indeed Michael Gove cannot even recall his role in the campaign

Vote Leave's data was mysteriously deleted rapidly after 23/6/16

Brexit does/did not have to be like this

And of course the plan Boris and Michael wrote on how to implement it vanished

Of course Dominic Cummings said Vote Leave didn't have to write a plan

Yet promise they did

Brexit does/did not have to be like this

The easiest deal in history

Nothing will change for EU citizens

They need us more than we need them

The EU be banging on our door 24/6/16

Trade deals starting Sept 2016 to finish in 2 years

Many solutions to the NI border

Brexit does/did not have to be like this

A reminder on Northern Ireland

https://twitter.com/PandaScottish/status/1108307267575840769

So nearly 3 years after that con

all those things are demonstrably not happening

I understand the rage as a victim you have of the con

You are angry that all these things have not been delivered

But they never could have been

Brexit does/did not have to be like this

And the politicians who sold you that con have to eternally double down as they can never retreat from the con

They have to keep fuelling the anger at a direction that diverts from those who perpetrated the con

Brexit does/did not have to be like this

Theresa May knows this

After all it was part of her general election campaign of 2017

Try and exploit that anger

Brexit does/did not have to be like this

Theresa May when she took the reins of the Conservative Party had a choice

She could act in the interests of the nation

Or she could act in the interests of her career and her party

She chose the latter

Brexit does/did not have to be like this

It indicates how much she feared acting in the national interest out of cowardice at how her party and other brexit peddlers would react

she knew the leave campaign were a bunch of liars, cheats and racists who had promised the moon

Brexit does/did not have to be like this

She knew the moon was unattainable

So she set about doing the next best thing in her eyes of trying to keep her party together as she desperately tried to roll on the momentum of anything to sell "brexit means brexit"

Brexit does/did not have to be this way

She knew the "many solutions" to the NI border was a lie

She knew the £350m / week for the NHS was a lie

She knew they need us more than we need them was a lie

She knew the lies

Brexit does/did not have to be like this

She knew the cheating
After all she outed & sacked the whistleblower on those crimes

Imagine Donald J Trump rages at attempting to unmask a whistleblower

May simply fired him as part of the campaign to smear and discredit him

Brexit does/did not have to be like this

So when after squandering several years of negotiating the unattainable

She had to come back and present her various deals as being the "best" she could get

And naturally none of them satisfied the liars, cheats and racists

Brexit does/did not have to be like this

A path could have been forged in the aftermath of June 2016 that brought a cross-party consensus and government of national unity to attempt to deliver on the unattainable

At some point it would involve facing up to the reality though

Brexit does/did not have to be like this

So in the tribal finale of a UK general election

You have a choice

Continue to sell or fall for the lies of Boris Johnson beacuse it is the easier path to choose

Or choose a different path

Brexit does/did not have to be like this

Where we go from here

I don't know

The con of brexit at some point will speed ever further away from the fantasy mirage of the con

It will not matter to the sellers of the con or the victims of the con

Brexit does/did not have to be like this

Because if brexit was going in the slightest bit well

If brexit was truly the glorious sunlit uplands

Why would you fear a second referendum?

Brexit does/did not have to be like this

I could remind you of Nigel Farage who spoke of "unfinished business"

Or Dominic Raab and Tory MPs who wanted a 2nd referendum for the simple reason that Leave might lose

Why not a 2nd referendum to confirm the choice of the people ?

Brexit does/did not have to be like this

Remember David Davis said a democracy isn't a democracy unless it can change it mind

Brexit does/did not have to be like this

Brexit did not have to be this way

Brexit does not have to be this way

How the history books will write the aftermath of June 2016 god knows

But I know one thing

It will be messy

Unless of course Fact Check UK are writing it

Or the Tory whips office are writing a book on university lecturers to monitor what they teach

So however you vote on Thursday 12th December 2019

Vote thoughtfully

Vote tactically

Think on those you elect

And think

Are they lying to me?

And if so why

Why do they think I am so stupid as to fall for lies?

How we move forward

Who knows

Vladimir Putin certainly is delighted

His work complete and ongoing

ted.com/talks/robb_wil…

On a penultimate note: one thread on austerity, brexit and Boris Johnson

https://twitter.com/PandaScottish/status/1202012607928061952

and on an ultimate note

WORDS MATTER

That is something that we all agree on

But especially those who peddle lies, fantasy and racism KNOW that words matter and sadly they know all too well how to use them

Brexit does/did not have to be like this

https://mobile.twitter.com/PandaScottish/status/1031173049909997569

@threadreaderapp unroll please