NBC Freak-Out: Brexit = ‘Fear, Xenophobia, Racism,’ ‘Threatens Western Civilization’

‘In fact, the president of the European Council said this doesn’t just threaten the European Union, this threatens western civilization’

NBC Freak-Out: Brexit = ‘Fear, Xenophobia, Racism,’ ‘Threatens Western Civilization’ (NewsBusters)

Appearing on NBC’s Today, analyst and Daily Beast editor Christopher Dickey launched into a tirade against Britain’s vote to leave the European Union: “...they claim it says, right off the bat, is that they were tired of all the bureaucracy of the European Union, they didn’t want all the constraints, they want their sovereignty. But what this was really about is fear, xenophobia, in some cases, certainly racism.”

He denounced Brexit campaign tactics: “...the big push for this came from a party UKIP, the UK Independence Party, that was busy putting up posters of Syrian immigrants coming in at the border of Croatia. That was not really a problem for Britain, but it was touching a button, a hot button for people in Britain who said, ‘We want out. We want to isolate ourselves, again.’”

Co-host Savannah Guthrie began the exchange by hyping: “This feels like an earthquake, a shocker.” Moments later, fellow co-host Matt Lauer fretted: “Do you see this as a stand-alone decision or might this be the first in a series of dominos?” Dickey replied:

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