I found this article interesting. Here are some quotes:
Brexit’s backers sold the project as a magic bullet that would solve the problems caused by a globalizing economy — not unlike Mr. Trump’s claims that tariffs would be a boon to the public purse and a remedy for the inequities of global trade. In neither case, experts said, does such a panacea exist.
“The truth is, Brexit did not correct any of the problems caused by deindustrialization,” said Tony Travers, a professor of politics at the London School of Economics. “If anything, Brexit made them worse.”
Mr. Trump’s MAGA coalition has some of the same ideological fault lines as the Brexiteers, pitting economic nationalists like Stephen K. Bannon against globalists like Elon Musk. That has led analysts to wonder if post-Trump politics in the United States will look a lot like post-Brexit politics in Britain.
“Brexit caused profound damage to the Conservative Party,” Professor Travers said. “It has been rendered unelectable because it is riven by factions. Will the Republican Party be similarly factionalized after Trump?”
It is similar, because a majority either didn’t want it or didn’t understand what it would mean, but there just wasn’t the enthusiasm to come out to bat for the lacklustre status quo (e.g. free markets working out great for the City of London but not much money trickling down to the rest of the country). Trump said all the mad and evil shit he wanted to do but do most people even pay any attention to what the candidates say?
Last year in the developed world every election resulted in the incumbent party losing. Presumably because people stupidly voted for change without thinking much.