U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump thrust himself into the heart of Britain's vote to leave the European Union on Friday, calling it a "great thing" and drawing parallels to his own insurgent campaign.
In Scotland to reopen a golf resort he owns, the wealthy New York businessman wasted no time interpreting the outcome of the "Brexit" vote as an example of a global uprising against the established order, an argument he said fits in with his own campaign to shake up Washington by renegotiating free trade deals and stopping illegal immigration.
"People want to take their country back. They want to have independence in a sense. You see it with Europe, all over Europe," said Trump, 70, the presumptive Republican nominee for president.
He said the economic shock from the vote would ebb over time and that more European countries might want to break with the 28-nation European Union. He said Americans would have a chance "to re-declare their independence" and "reject today’s rule by the global elite" when they vote on Nov. 8.
“So I think you're going to have this happen more and more. I really believe that, and I think that it’s happening in the United States. It's happening by the fact that I've done so well in the polls," he said.
Trump's rival, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, said in a statement: "This time of uncertainty only underscores the need for calm, steady, experienced leadership in the White House to protect Americans' pocketbooks and livelihoods, to support our friends and allies, to stand up to our adversaries, and to defend our interests.
"It also underscores the need for us to pull together to solve our challenges as a country, not tear each other down," said Clinton, 68, a former U.S. secretary of state, who had openly favored Britain's remaining in the EU.
More than half a million Britons signed a petition earlier this year to bar Trump from entering Britain, where he has business interests, in response to his call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States.
British lawmakers decided against a ban as a violation of free speech.
TRUMP ASSAILS OBAMA
Trump assailed as inappropriate Democratic President Barack Obama's open appeals to Britain not to split off. Shaking off a tradition of not commenting on U.S. politics from foreign soil, Trump said Obama had been embarrassed.
"It's something he shouldn't have done. It's not his country. It's not his part of the world. He shouldn't have done it. And I actually think that his recommendation perhaps caused it to fail," Trump said.
Trump arrived in his signature helicopter at Turnberry near his clubhouse resort, a Scottish flag blowing in the wind.
Joined by sons Don Jr. and Eric and daughter Ivanka, the candidate praised his mother who was born in Scotland, his children who manage his business affairs and the golf course itself, dismissing complaints from Republicans that he should have stuck to the campaign trail at home.
Value is the only commonality in an increasingly complex, challenging and interdependent world.