Farage, Trump and The Illusion of Patriotism
Nigel Farage's political career is a masterclass in reinvention. To some, he is a fearless truth-teller, the man who ‘gave us Brexit,’ a champion of sovereignty and national pride. To others, he is a political grifter, a figure who thrives on chaos, stirring up discontent while rarely delivering meaningful solutions. To his most devoted followers, he is the ultimate anti-establishment crusader, a pint-in-hand everyman who sticks it to the elites. But scratch beneath the surface, and Farage is anything but an outsider.
For decades, Farage has played the role of the ‘man of the people,’ yet his career has been bankrolled by wealthy backers like Arron Banks, the multimillionaire financier of Brexit, and shadowy donors from the hard-right libertarian movement. He has sold himself as a patriot while aligning himself with those who would weaken Britain, including Donald Trump and radical free-market ideologues who seek to privatize the very institutions that define British life. And while he claims to stand for ordinary Britons, his policies and actions have often betrayed the very people he claims to represent.
Farage is not a fascist, nor is he an outright racist in the way many of his most fervent critics suggest. But he understands the power of division; he has built his career by stoking resentment, manipulating historical narratives, and exploiting national identity for personal and political gain.
This is the real Nigel Farage: not the cheeky bloke down the pub, but a shrewd political operator who has weaponized nostalgia, fear, and patriotism to his advantage.
Farage the Patriot: The Abuse of History and National Identity
Few British politicians have wrapped themselves in the flag as tightly as Nigel Farage. His rhetoric is filled with invocations of a glorious Britain betrayed by elites, a country that once ‘ruled the waves’ but has since been weakened by globalisation, immigration, and political cowardice. This vision of Britain, one where plucky underdogs take on foreign forces and come out victorious, is seductive to many, particularly those who feel alienated by modern politics.
Yet Farage's version of patriotism is not about celebrating Britain's achievements or investing in its future—it is about nostalgia as a weapon. His speeches invoke World War II imagery, painting Brexit as a struggle akin to the Battle of Britain, with himself cast as Churchill and the EU as the invading force. This is history rewritten as propaganda; a crude repackaging of the past designed to turn complex political issues into simplistic battles of ‘us vs. them.’
And yet, for all his supposed patriotism, Farage has done little to strengthen the country he claims to love. Brexit—a project he championed—has, in his telling, been sabotaged by politicians who never believed in it. Farage insists that there was nothing wrong with Brexit itself, only its execution. He advocated for a hardline ‘No Deal’ Brexit, which many experts warned could have led to even more severe economic and social consequences. In Farage’s narrative, the EU is perpetually ‘out to get us’, and any failures are the result of external sabotage rather than inherent flaws in the Brexit project.
Moreover, Farage has called for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), viewing it as another shackle imposed by European institutions (The Guardian, 2023). This stance has been criticized, especially given that the ECHR is not an EU body but a separate entity under the Council of Europe, highlighting either a misunderstanding or a deliberate conflation on Farage's part. For figures like Farage, there's always another institution to leave, always someone else to blame.
Farage the Populist: Exploiting Fear and Division
Farage's greatest skill is his ability to identify real public anxieties and distort them into political capital.
Concerns about economic decline, job security, and community cohesion are legitimate. Many Britons, particularly in former industrial heartlands, feel abandoned by Westminster, left to deal with the consequences of decades of corporate greed, deregulation, privatisation, and the dismantling of public services (Financial Times, 2024). But instead of addressing the root causes, Farage offers a more convenient target: immigrants, the EU, and the so-called liberal elite.
The infamous ‘Breaking Point’ poster, unveiled during the 2016 Brexit campaign, exemplifies this strategy. Showing a line of desperate refugees, it was designed to provoke fear—suggesting that Britain was on the verge of being ‘overrun’ by foreign outsiders. It was classic Farage: an image crafted to exploit real economic grievances but redirect anger toward scapegoats, rather than those truly responsible for Britain's economic decline. The poster was later condemned as "reminiscent of 1930s Nazi propaganda" and reported to the police for potentially inciting racial hatred (BBC News, 2016).
And it works. Many working-class voters, who have legitimate concerns about stagnant wages and job insecurity, have been persuaded that the problem is not government policy or economic mismanagement but rather immigrants, asylum seekers, and EU bureaucrats.
Farage was never interested in solving these problems—only in weaponizing them. When the Brexit vote was won, he walked away. He resigned as UKIP leader, effectively declaring ‘job done’. A more cynical reading suggests that he left because the act of implementing Brexit was too complicated. None of the Vote Leave architects, including Farage and Boris Johnson, really expected Britain to actually vote to leave. The plan had been to lose narrowly, allowing them to spend their careers complaining that Brexit had been stolen, rather than deal with the complexities of making it happen (The Independent, 2019).
Farage and Trump: A Risky Alliance
Farage's close relationship with Donald Trump presents one of his biggest strategic dilemmas. While his core voters admire Trump's hard-right nationalism, the majority of Britons overwhelmingly dislike him. A recent YouGov poll found that only 14% of British voters view Trump favourably, while 67% view him negatively (The Guardian, 2025).
Despite being elected as the MP for Clacton-on-Sea, Farage spends more time at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort than in his own constituency. His devotion to Trump is so blatant that political commentators have jokingly dubbed him the “Right Honourable Gentleman for Mar-a-Lago” (The Times, 2025). While his supporters insist that his political influence extends beyond his physical presence, his critics argue that his frequent absences underscore his self-serving priorities—that he is far more interested in maintaining his connections with Trump’s circle than in representing the concerns of Clacton voters.
The contradictions in Farage’s positioning have become even more pronounced now that Trump is back in the White House. Just five weeks into his second term, Trump has escalated his hostility toward NATO, raising fears about the stability of the alliance. His rhetoric has turned increasingly aggressive toward Ukraine, going as far as to call President Zelenskyy “a dictator” despite Ukraine being a democracy fighting for its survival against Russian aggression. He has also openly blamed Ukraine for the war, aligning himself even further with pro-Kremlin narratives and signalling a shift in American foreign policy that has alarmed Britain and other European allies.
Most British political leaders, including those on the right, have publicly condemned Trump’s latest moves, expressing concerns over what his realignment with authoritarian regimes could mean for global security. Farage, however, has remained suspiciously quiet. His only statement on the matter was a carefully worded remark that, while he does not believe Zelenskyy is a dictator, he still thinks Ukraine should hold elections, conveniently ignoring the reality that elections are impossible in a country where millions have been displaced, and significant portions of its territory are under Russian occupation.
For a man who has spent his career presenting himself as a defender of Western values and democracy, Farage’s reluctance to criticize Trump’s increasingly autocratic tendencies exposes deep contradictions in his political stance. If Trump continues to destabilize NATO, strengthen his ties with Vladimir Putin, and push anti-democratic rhetoric, Farage will soon have to make a choice. Either he will continue to defend positions that directly contradict his supposed patriotism, risking further alienation from the wider British electorate, or he will be forced to distance himself from the man who has shaped much of his political brand.
This is the tightrope Farage now walks. He has tied himself so closely to Trump that disentangling himself without alienating his base will be extremely difficult. Yet, the more extreme Trump’s rhetoric becomes, the more toxic that association will be in the eyes of British voters. Farage has always prided himself on being able to reinvent himself in shifting political landscapes, but with Trump’s second term veering further into dangerous territory, his association with the former U.S. president could become a liability rather than an asset.
Conclusion: The Eternal Opportunist
Nigel Farage has never been a conventional politician. He is not a leader in the traditional sense, nor is he someone who has ever demonstrated an interest in governance. Instead, he is a political entrepreneur, someone who profits from division, instability, and the discontent of ordinary people. His career has not been defined by policy achievements or long-term commitments but by his ability to keep himself relevant in an ever-changing political landscape.
Farage has mastered the art of selling himself as an everyman while living the life of the elite. He has built his brand on the promise of fighting for ‘the people’ while securing financial backing from millionaires and spending more time in the United States than in his own parliamentary constituency. His ability to tap into public discontent, repackage it as a crusade against the establishment, and then monetise that anger has allowed him to survive long after Brexit—a cause that should have ended his political career—was delivered.
However, Farage’s longstanding strategy of political reinvention may be facing its greatest challenge yet. His unwavering association with Donald Trump, a figure deeply unpopular with the British public, may prove to be a double-edged sword. While it solidifies his standing among his most hardline supporters, it risks alienating the broader electorate he needs if he ever wishes to expand Reform UK’s influence beyond the margins of British politics. His silence on Trump’s hostility toward NATO, his pro-Kremlin stance, and his increasing authoritarian rhetoric could become a defining issue for Farage in the coming years.
The question now is whether Farage, the master of adaptation, can once again shift his position to maintain his relevance. If Trump’s presidency continues to spiral further into extremism, how long can Farage remain tied to him without suffering electoral consequences? If the political tides change, will he once again walk away—just as he did after Brexit, after UKIP, and after the 2019 general election?
Farage has built his career not on winning elections but on keeping grievances alive. Whether through television appearances, political campaigns, or social media rants, he has positioned himself as a permanent agitator rather than a responsible policymaker. But as Britain’s political landscape continues to shift, his greatest challenge may no longer be fighting against the establishment—but proving that he has a role to play beyond mere disruption.
Farage will always find a new movement, a new enemy, or a new betrayal to champion. The only question is how many more times he can reinvent himself before voters begin to see through the act.
References
The Guardian (2025). UK party leaders walk tightrope on Trump voters. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/feb/21/uk-party-leaders-tightrope-trump-voters
The Times (2025). Can Reform UK win in 2025?. Available at: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/can-reform-uk-win-in-2025-labour-and-the-tories-are-getting-nervous-vjkhw0wcp
The Guardian (2023). Sunak under pressure to withdraw from ECHR. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/mar/28/sunak-uk-echr-judges-criticised-home-office-asylum
Financial Times (2024). How Britain’s economic decline has fueled political discontent. Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/da7bde6a-88d8-11e9-97ea-05ac2431f453
BBC News (2016). Nigel Farage’s “Breaking Point” poster reported to police. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36567855
The Independent (2019). Nigel Farage admits Brexit Party will not contest seats won by Tories. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nigel-farage-brexit-party-tory-pact-general-election-boris-johnson-deal-a9189136.html