The leaders of secession campaigns across the country have been galvanized by the Brexit vote last month, even though the referendum was about removing the United Kingdom from the European Union as opposed to a state leaving its country.
The leader of the group trying take California out of the United States said he's seen a large increase in interest since the Brexit vote.
“It will be a good thing for the cause of self-determination in America to be able to point to a peaceful and legal secession,” Louis Marinelli, president of Yes California Independence Campaign, told the Atlantic.
Marinelli said interest in the campaign jumped threefold since the Brexit vote. The group's Facebook page has nearly 7,000 fans. They are planning a September rally on the issue.
The so-called "Calexit" movement, like "Texit" for Texas, seeks to secede from the United States.
“There are people who are blindly patriotic who don’t want to even consider it—we like to say they’re wearing a Star-Spangled blindfold,” Marinelli told the Atlantic. “There are people who love the idea. Then there are people who say, ‘Well, if Trump gets elected, you may have a point.’"
California has the largest economy in the nation and is in the top ten on the global scale.
Some on the Texit side sound similar to Calexit, with one person tweeting, "If Trump fails #Texit seems to be our best remedy."
Rob Williams, who heads the Vermont secession movement, said Trump has also been a boon.
“Rational people are scared of Trump and what he represents,” Williams told the Atlantic. “His racism, his intolerance, his lack of vision, his wall building.”
