AIBU to be utterly baffled at how many people are falling for Reform after the Brexit mess?

[TheCoralShaker]

I’m not into any political party or ideology – honestly, they all seem like varying shades of grifters to me – but I just can't believe how many people are jumping on the Reform bandwagon like it's some magic fix.

After everything that happened with Brexit – the lies, the infighting, the broken promises, the economic fallout we’re still wading through – how are people still falling for this kind of simplistic, shouty politics? The "common sense" soundbites, the "tell it like it is" nonsense, the constant scapegoating of whatever group is most convenient that week... it's all so transparent.

I'm not saying any of the main parties are perfect (far from it), but Reform seems to be just a bunch of media-savvy populists spouting whatever will get the loudest headlines. What’s worrying is how many people lap it up without even questioning what’s actually being proposed, or whether it’s remotely feasible.

Where are the critical thinking skills? Why are people so easily seduced by these pantomime figures who tap into anger and offer no real substance? It’s like the more outrageous someone is, the more they’re celebrated, and never mind whether any of it makes sense.

I get that people are frustrated, disillusioned, sick of the status quo, so am I. But falling for another bunch of opportunists who thrive on division and offer nothing beyond slogans seems like doubling down on the same mistake.

AIBU to think that we should have learned by now? Or is this just how politics is going to be from now on, performative outrage and no actual plan?

My experience is the opposite. Of the people I know who voted Reform (again, I didn’t vote and am not aligned to any party) they are all intelligent and can back up their arguments.

Whereas the people I know who have voted labour did so because they always have done, and so has their family going back generations. The people I have asked to explain to me why they’re so horrified about reform getting in can’t explain it to me, they don’t even know what Reform’s policies are and are just parroting what they have heard.

I don’t care who anyone votes for or if they choose not to vote. I just wish people would put SOME thought in to it.

Starmer is so unpopular. And he cant seem to help it, he’s just not a good communicator or likeable. And there’s so much criticism of Farage but who’s any better?!

if Starmer banned the burqa he might garner some attention from all the people that respect Farage, he needs to do something that shows he respects British culture.

There are people who want Boris back. He's been found guilty of misleading Parliament but let's not mind that. People don't care.

Look, I know I keep referring to the US but because it's such a striking example of that: they re-elected an insurrectionist and convicted felon who was impeached twice and said he would be dictator on day one. How can anyone be surprised when the guy behaves exactly according to type? So the conclusion is: those voters wanted just that. They'll still go with the criminal provided he's gobby and a male. They'll go for it again and again and again.

I work in Whitechapel in London, which has a huge Mulim population. I've never seen a burqa here.
Who is this ban supposed to affect, appart from appeasing the gammons?

They also proposed to exempt all frontline healthcare workers earning less than £50k from income tax. Small wonder there’s a £100 billion hole in their “budget”.

Thinking Reform voters are thick has got fuck all to do with wanting people to vote Labour. Vote Labour, vote Lib Dem, vote Tory even (if they ever get their act together again), I couldn't give two shits.

Farage has been selling the same snake oil with different labels for nigh on two decades. He starts a new "party", it all falls apart after four or five years, then he just rebrands the wagon, changes his tie, and rolls back into town.

His latest grift is pretending—despite being a lifelong Thatcherite—that he's all for nationalised industry and wants to reopen blast furnaces. Like anyone actually wants to work in a fucking coal mine. People won't even work on farms, they're hardly going to be queuing up to get a job in heavy manufacturing.

Thinking this nonsense is real is as idiotic as getting an email from a Nigerian prince and thinking "I'm going to be a millionaire!"

By the way, Nigel thinks you're all stupid too. A good snake oil salesman can sniff out credulity a mile away, and Farage is the best.

Farage.

Most MPs come across as deeply weird. Farage comes across as a relatively normal bloke. I'm sure it's an act but at least he's capable of putting on a normal facade.

To simple people, everything is simple. I think this sums up the average Reform voter

Our local council is now being led by Reform. This morning I noticed we have had a big pot hole filled in on a busy roundabout. Also our new Reform leader has refused to fund the Pride march and additional policing. He said if they want to march they must cover the cost of the march. Very sensible imho. All these matches cost a lot of money and those who want to do them should be paying to fund them including any additional policing they need.

Heaven help us all if that’s “normal”!

Alot of aggression on this thread and people who think insulting their opponent is the same as intelligent debate. I blame sm and the media - I remember the 80s when you used to get intelligent discussion on the TV-not anymore!

I don't believe that's true. I think people are sick to death of not being listened to and their vote doing nothing to improve their lives. Quality of life in general is far worse for many, deprivation is rife, millions are using food banks, the NHS is not fit for purpose, utilities cost a fortune, food prices are ever increasing, we have a housing crisis and life feels like a grind.

Farage points to asylum seekers and blames them and we have a perfect vote winner because it's a complex problem. He can keep pointing at them because Labour are not going to easily solve it. Meanwhile radical solutions to the status quo are not being tabled and quality of life continues to fall.

In RL he is like a snake oil seller. Slippery and twitchy. Very unpleasant. Sadly I've been in a room with him a few times. 🤢

There’s a phrase

you can’t use logic to argue someone out of a position they didn’t use logic to get into

@ScrubbedCauliflower then Labour need to behave much more the party of the people, and get properly in touch with us. It’s a poor thing when Farage pretending to be “the man in the pub” (he is absolutely not, any more than Boris Johnson couldn’t handle his hairstyle) sounds more in touch than Labour with ordinary people. Meanwhile, once the cameras go, he trots back off to his champagne breakfasts, or jets off to New York to his buddies.

Labour is neither the party of the people or the working classes. It used to be but was hijacked by a load of arrogant human rights lawyers who don't know how to run anything. Reform has positioned itself as the new working class party. I am not convinced that they are anymore competent than labour/tories but their advantage is that they don't have a record of failure in government and have convinced people they have Britain's interests at heart unlike Labour who come across as gullible incompetents.

He’s a great politician to be fair. A really good speaker who knows what the people want to hear. I’m not sure any other politician in history has impacted so much whilst having so little actual power.

hes got the skills for sure, it’s just a shame he’s not using them for good

Im not sure that is true, Preston has been a labour stronghold as long as I have lived here ( more than decade) at our last local election, they lost to reform.

I don't think that's a move of Tory voters. It's a change of Labour voters.

I have no real opinion on labour I've voted independent for a long time

Yes and Wales shows a similar increase in Reform.

That has typically been a strong Labour electorate.

Wales doesn’t vote until next May. We have no idea what the Senedd will look like at this point.

🤣🤣🤣

That’s not quite true. Reform took two out of eleven wards and two were won by the Tories. Independents and the LibDems performed well.

The never thinking and planning for the long term, only for the election cycle, and thereby always kicking problems down the road, is a massive problem with democracy, and doesn't seem to be being addressed by anyone.