General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The Brexit Rejection of Neoliberal Tyranny [View all]muriel_volestrangler
(101,314 posts)and thought it must be about Muslims. A more relevant comparison for the US situation would be Trump's hatred of Mexicans, and his wall. The primary cry from the Brexiters was "we want control of our borders", and how they'd stop the free movement of labour that is a condition of being in the EU, and which has resulted in many Eastern Europeans working in the UK. There was some scaremongering about Turks - they want to join the EU, but still need visas to come to the UK, and can't just move here to look for work, but a few Brexiters tried to make it sound as if that's about to happen.
As an example why it isn't primarily about Iraq or Syria: it was in January 2013 that Cameron promised to hold the referendum if he won the 2015 election. That's before ISIS was in the news at all (their first major success, taking Fallujah, was about a year later).