“There’s going to be a lot of Brexit happening in about two weeks,” Donald Trump told a rally on Tuesday evening. “A lot of Brexit.”
The Republican presidential candidate is trailing in the polls and has a mountain to climb if he wants to beat Hillary Clinton to the White House on November 8. The Huffington Post forecast gives Clinton a 97.3% chance of winning the election. Clinton is leading Trump by an average of 48% to 41.9% in the national polls.
Trump is pinning his hopes on a surprise win and likes to compare it to the EU referendum result. “Remember that? Everyone went to bed. They said ‘oh gee I think it’s not going to happen’ and I said its going to happen,” he told the crowd in the battleground state of Florida.
However Trump’s comparison is wrong - Brexit was not as big a shock as he thinks it is. In June, the ‘Leave’ campaign led in 17 polls, ‘Remain’ led in 14 and there were three ties. The referendum race was also much tighter than Clinton’s current lead over Trump.
Trump, who has styled himself “Mr Brexit” in an appeal to voters disenchanted with the Washington establishment. “This is bigger than Brexit, what’s going on,” he told another rally earlier this week.
The Republican also did not appear to know what Brexit was when asked about it in June by Michael Wolff of The Hollywood Reporter.
“And Brexit? Your position?” Wolff asked Trump.
“Huh?” Trump replied.
“Brexit,” Wolff asked.
“Hmm,” Trump said.
“The Brits leaving the EU,” Wolff explained.
“Oh yeah, I think they should leave,” Trump concluded.