There’s an interesting psychological link between the Brexiteers' attitude to the referendum win and Trump's attitude to his loss. It's the lure of big numbers. 1/

Since 2016, the Brexit right has fetishised the 17.4m who voted to leave as if the 16.1m who voted to remain didn't exist. Exhibit A from the Brexit Party: 2/

Exhibit B from the Express: 3/

Exhibit C from the Tories: 4/

The number 17.4m has been reified, frozen in time, used to eradicate all other voices, ignore any changes of heart, as if democracy was only a matter of winner takes all and not a negotiation for consent. 5/

And now look at the #MAGA attitude to Trump's loss. Here's a Trump fan at his rally last night: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/05/fight-like-hell-grievance-and-denialism-rule-at-trump-georgia-rally 6/

The lure of the large number might seem like the glare of the large number - dazzling them so they can't see anything else (like Biden actually getting 81.3m votes). But, fundamentally, it rests on the idea that only their votes count because only THEY are real. 7/

You see it in the hauntology of it all: true patriots vs dead people voting; real people vs. no-one-known-as-this-address. The Biden voters, at some fundamental level, aren't REAL. 8/

And this is of course overlaps with Trumpian white supremacism: only white people exist, which is why their paranoia is existential. The 'great replacement' crap is rhetorically about being made to disappear, being ghosted, about suddenly non-existing. 9/

The Trump fans are not trying to undermine democracy; they believe in it wholeheartedly, but only for them. (It's like the banks and corporations who accept state handouts because they believe in socialism - but only for the rich.) END