While some in the United States harbor a conspiracy theory that suggests that Russia swung the results of the recent presidential election and made Donald Trump, in effect, a real-life Manchurian Candidate, the head of the European Union, Jean-Claude Juncker, has one of his own about Brexit. He blames Britain leaving the EU on Donald Trump and the Americans and, according to CNN, has a plan for revenge. He is threatening to campaign for Austin, Texas, and Ohio to leave the United States and form their own countries.
His choice of targets is a bit strange, considering that the biggest secession movement currently in the United States is in California, called Calexit.
Austin becoming a city state would be an interesting albeit doomed idea. The capital of Texas is an island of leftwing nuttery in an ocean of deep red conservatism. The city is notorious for the things it tries to ban such as ride sharing, short term rentals, and even barbecue. If Austin were to leave Texas and thus the checks imposed on it by the Texas state legislature, it would become like East Berlin during the Cold War?
But, Ohio? To be sure a group of pranksters did offer a petition on the White House website in 2012 calling for a Republic of Ohio, but it garnered only a few thousand signatures.
In the meantime, a number of other countries in the EU are seething with the desire to liberate themselves from the tyranny of Brussels.
In the upcoming French elections, Marine Le Pen is suggesting that she might lead France out of the EU. Other countries such as Italy and Greece have developed a leave sentiment. On the other hand, some in Scotland want to leave the United Kingdom and rejoin the EU.
Juncker may want to consider what is causing secession feeling in Europe and desist from making silly threats against the United States.
Americans, even those who are itching to repeat the folly of the Confederates, are hardly going to be inspired by an irate gentleman from Luxembourg who is mad at Donald Trump. Their ancestors immigrated to America to get away from people like Juncker, after all.
