Since leaving the White House in 2025 with Donald Trump returning to power, I have spent the past two years listening to people who feel politically unanchored.

Voters in the United States and the United Kingdom are turning to movements that promise simple answers to complicated problems because they no longer believe the major parties see what they see or feel what they feel.

The appeal of Reform, Restore and fringe Maga figures grows out of that frustration, and the links between Nigel Farage and American political voices show how these narratives travel across borders and feed the same fears.

After more than 15 years working in US politics, including service to two presidents and most recently as White House press secretary, I have watched how quickly trust erodes when institutions fall behind the pressures people face.

I sat in senior level briefings where immigration, border security and crime were not abstractions but daily operational challenges. During the 2021 surge in Haitian migrants at the southern border, internal discussions focused on processing capacity and humanitarian obligations while the public saw only chaotic images from Del Rio and felt the government had lost control.

I have seen how policy decisions collide with public sentiment. During the debate over crime data in 2022 and 2023, national statistics showed declines in violent crime as many areas were dealing with carjackings, retail theft and public disorder.

Voters are frustrated, from watching immigration systems that feel overwhelmed, border policies that seem inconsistent and crime debates that never quite match what communities experience. In the UK, the asylum backlog climbed past 100,000 cases, leaving people waiting months or years for decisions. In the US, the immigration court backlog passed two million cases. Border policies have shifted rapidly. When people look at Democrats, Republicans, Labour and the Conservatives, they see institutions that have drifted away from the realities they face.

Movements like Reform UK and Rupert Lowe’s breakaway party, Restore Britain, have stepped into that space with messages that feel direct and uncomplicated. They speak to voters who believe the country has lost control of its borders and who worry that national identity is slipping away.

In the US, fringe Maga voices push a similar story. They argue that institutions have failed and that only disruption can restore order. These groups do not operate in isolation. They borrow from one another, repeat one another and amplify one another.

Steve Bannon regularly praises Farage as a defender of national sovereignty and amplifies UK immigration stories on his podcast. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has shared clips of Farage’s speeches, framing them as proof that Western nations face the same cultural threats. At the Keep Arizona Free Summit, Farage’s warnings about “saving Western civilisation” were picked up by US activists who repeated the same language in their campaigns.

Farage’s long relationship with American political figures is part of that pattern. It shows how these narratives move across the Atlantic and how they reinforce the same fears in two very different political cultures. The Reform leader has accepted more than £83,000 in earnings, accommodation and flights from groups or events that support the US anti-abortion movement, The i Paper revealed in June. His appearance before US Congress in September 2025, in which he criticised the UK’s free speech rules, was reportedly orchestrated by the Alliance Defending Freedom – one of America’s most influential Christian groups.

The fears of Maga and Reform supporters are powerful. They are fears about safety, about identity, about whether leaders understand what ordinary life is like. They are fears that our countries are changing too quickly and that the people in charge are not being honest about it. When voters hear outsider voices speak directly to those anxieties, they feel seen. They feel heard. They feel that someone is finally acknowledging what they have been trying to say for years. At the Keep Arizona Free Summit, Farage told the audience that “the West is losing confidence in itself” and that ordinary people “feel ignored by leaders who live in a different world”. In the US, Sarah Rogers, the undersecretary of State for public diplomacy, has impressed right-wing figures in Britain by arguing that “the fight for free expression is the fight for national identity,” a message that resonates with voters who feel cultural change is happening too fast..

The problem is that the major parties have not kept pace with the pressures people face. Immigration systems have not been modernised. Border enforcement has not been consistent. Policing debates have become abstract. Economic insecurity has been treated as a talking point rather than a lived reality. People notice when institutions fall behind, and they respond by looking elsewhere for answers. A /Siena poll from May found that 43 per cent of voters were dissatisfied with both major political parties. Polling by found that 32 per cent of British voters would consider backing Reform, while up to 20 per cent would “consider” voting Restore. More than half of those surveyed who would consider backing the latter did not vote at all in 2024.

This is the environment in which Reform, Restore and Maga aligned voices thrive. They offer certainty at a time when mainstream parties seem unsure of their own direction. Reform promises to freeze non-essential immigration and take back control of the borders, presenting these as straightforward solutions. Restore talks about reclaiming British values in simple, declarative terms. In the US, fringe Maga voices call for mass deportations and sweeping executive actions, offering clarity even when the proposals are legally or practically unrealistic. They offer conviction when institutions feel slow and reactive. They offer a story that feels coherent, even when it oversimplifies the complexity of immigration, crime and national identity.

The rise of these movements is not simply a political trend. It is a warning. It shows what happens when institutions lose touch with the people they are meant to represent. It shows how quickly frustration can turn into disillusionment and how easily disillusionment can turn into support for movements that promise disruption rather than governance.

The major parties do not need better slogans. They need to rebuild trust by addressing the underlying issues that have pushed voters away. They need to modernise immigration systems, strengthen border management and speak honestly about crime and public safety. They need to reconnect with the realities people face and show they understand the pressures shaping daily life.

If they do not, the political landscape on both sides of the Atlantic will continue to shift toward movements that thrive on fear rather than on solutions. And voters will continue to look for answers in places the major parties never expected.