I’ve been saying for a while that “cute and clever” strategies don’t work against authoritarians and fascists. Here’s a confirming example from the UK.

Time after time, the Conservatives are going “ha ha, UKIP will definitely hoist itself this time!” and repeatedly UKIP is gaining ground by being underestimated.

According to the TLDR guy, the Brexit referendum was supposed to be a way to get the UKIP to shut up already about independence. The referendum wasn’t even supposed to happen because yadda yadda multi-dimensional chess yadda yadda but here we are.

No. You play this stuff straight. There’s no “ha ha trick the bad guys” because the bad guys aren’t bound by consistency.

You give them a real opening, they take it. You give them a fake opening ironically or strategically, they take it anyway.

We have to stop being impressed with our own cleverness and fight them directly.