Nigel Farage, a British conservative who was a leading force in the Brexit movement, has often waded into American politics. He's a proud President Trump supporter, predicting that if the Republicans win the midterms, Trump will win the 2020 election "by a Reagan-style landslide." He's been invited to several conservative events here in America, including the Conservative Political Action Conference. This week, he spoke to several high school students at the Turning Point USA conference in Washington, D.C. In his speech, he explained why conservatives should be thanking their lucky stars for progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who believes in causes like abolishing ICE and single payer health care.
“We need more people like her,” Farage said at the conference. “The more loophead socialists, the crazier — the crazier people that they put up for the other party, the better it’s going to be for you guys.”
“Don’t worry: The stupider, the more extreme, the more crazy your opponents are, the better,” he added.
Farage did, however, suggest that politeness is the only way to respond to radical progressivism.
“Please do your best not to sink to their level,” Farage said, despite the "nasty" levels to which their opponents sink. “Do you know why? Because not only do we have better arguments than them, I think we’re now better people than them.”
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, had a similar message to the Turning Point audience this week. In her remarks to conservative high schoolers, she suggested they not be so confrontational with their liberal peers. Instead of "owning the libs," she suggested they show some grace to their political opponents and tamp down the inflammatory language.
"Real leadership is about persuasion, it's about movement, it's bringing people around to your point of view," she said. "Not by shouting them down, but by showing them how it is in their best interest to see things the way you do."