Nigel Farage tells Donald Trump not to contest election if Kamala Harris wins
Nigel Farage has told Donald Trump to accept the result of the US election if Kamala Harris wins, suggesting the former president should “go and play golf”.
Referencing political violence that took place in the wake of the 2020 election, Mr Farage said: “Let’s hope and pray that is not an issue this time. If it [the outcome] was clear then Republicans have to accept the result.
“The whole point of voting is we don’t need to fight. It is what we fought two world wars for. We settle our differences with the ballot box.”
Speaking to reporters during a visit to the former president’s home in Palm Beach, Mr Farage told The Telegraph: “If [the result] was clear and decisive then maybe it’s time [for Trump] to go and play golf at Turnberry.”
“It’s all hypothetical and I still think he is going to win”, he added.
With nearly 75 million votes already cast, polls will close at the end of Tuesday, November 5, and votes will be counted to decide the next president.
The final national polls are still showing the two candidates neck-and-neck; some with a small Harris lead, and others with a small Trump lead.
The MP for Clacton also called for Harris to pardon Trump “to dampen down” the threat of violence if she wins on election night amid a tight presidential race.
According to reports, the far-right group known as the Proud Boys which appeared to play a central role in the January 6 riots was planning to return to the streets if Trump loses.
“If she gets in on Tuesday I hope she pardons him. She could look magnanimous and it would dampen down potential tensions,” he said.
Farage added: “I just hope to God it’s a clear result. It is nearly a quarter of a century ago we had the hanging chads and dimpled chads and here we are 25 years on with huge questions about how Americans conduct elections. I find it incredible.”
The 78-year-old is the first former president in US history to be criminally convicted, having been found guilty of 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels.
The Reform UK leader admitted he preferred to be in Florida for election night than being in “dreary” Britain and was looking forward to a second Trump term which he claimed would see Elon Musk come in and enforce cuts to US government - something he hopes his party will do in the future.
He added: “This is the sexy bit: Elon comes in and takes a knife to the deep state. Just like when he bought Twitter he sacked 80 per cent of the staff. There are going to be mass layoffs, whole departments closing and I’m hoping and praying that’s the blueprint for what we then do on our side of the pond.
“Because that’s what Reform UK believes in - that we’re over-bureaucratised and none of it works. This assault on the bureaucratic state is the thing that’s really exciting.”
It came as Trump hailed Farage at one of his rallies in Pennsylvania on Monday, calling him the “big winner” in the UK general election which Labour won by a landslide.
Trump told the rally: “He has always been my friend for some reason. He likes me, I like him. He is shaking it up pretty good over there. He was the big winner of the last election in the UK.
“He is a very spectacular man, very highly respected. He’s a little bit of a rebel but that’s good - don’t change Nigel.”