🌊 The Speech Heard ‘Round the World

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By Max Frost

Dewsbury, England

President Trump’s UN speech landed here with a bang this week. 

“Your countries are going to hell,” President Trump told the leaders of Western Europe during his first UN address since 2018. “You’re destroying your countries. They’re being destroyed.”

He continued:

Interviewing people in England’s “Rust Belt” the morning after, this speech felt like a major moment. Trump had spoken to many people here – and that group was grateful. Finally, they said, someone had spoken for them.  

Central and Northern England are much like the disaffected American towns that pushed Trump into the White House in 2016. Industry left, jobs disappeared, and social decay set in. More than the Rust Belt, though, they’ve seen a massive influx of immigrants. Some towns – like Dewsbury or nearby Blackburn – have entire Pakistani towns within them. Others have the same except with Slovaks or Albanians. Many English residents aren’t happy.

This part of the country is a hub for right-wing populist Nigel Farage and his newly-established Reform UK party, which is dominating the country’s polls. Some surveys show he has more support than the traditionally dominant Labour and Conservatives combined. Many believe he’ll be the next prime minister. 

I wanted to know what was driving this trend and if the UK would soon have its own Trump, so Roca video head Drew and I hopped on a plane to Heathrow, got on the wrong side of the road, and drove north to Reform’s strongholds. 

On Tuesday, we found ourselves in Rotherham, a former steel town now best known for having more “grooming gang” cases than anywhere else in the UK. In dozens of conversations here, almost all locals shared the same message. 

To quote one: “This town is going to hell.” 

And another: “This town has gone to hell.”

Minutes later, Trump gave his speech: “Your countries are going to hell.”

Our conversations in the days since suggest his words have hit hard.

Editor’s Note

We’ll have a whole batch of videos coming out from here shortly, so stay tuned. In the meantime, we want to hear your thoughts: Was Trump’s UN speech pointless and rambling, or did it position him as the vanguard of Europe’s surging right-wing movements? Let us know by replying here. We’re particularly eager to hear from our British readers. 

Also, we’re headed to Scotland in the coming days. If you’re around there, get in touch. We’d love to meet some Scottish readers!

Check out our latest stories if you’re looking for some Saturday morning reading:

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.
—Max and Max