I think the problem was more that the experts were effectively all painted as corporatists with a track record of failing the people, despite the fact that while those people were included, there were quite a few other voices who were not neoliberal stooges making the same point that this was a shockingly bad idea. The Brexit proponents won the propaganda war by skipping over facts and running on a mix of hostility to immigrants, hostility to the powers that be, nativism, and the other usual suspects in right-wing identity politics, pushing a Big Lie about how wonderful the results of an EU exit would be without ever engaging with the wonky things opponents brought up, while the opponents did too wonky a job of pointing out the downsides and didn’t find a way to get through to the Brexiters on an emotional level that was able to resonate. It was an id vs super-ego battle. id wasn’t interested in ideas, but impulse, and it won.
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