Beto O’Rourke’s media outburst accidentally said everything about Brexit in a few short words

The Democratic candidate’s rhetorical question hasn’t been posed here yet – but it will feature in the retrospective inquiry into our national nervous breakdown

The definitive quote about Brexit arrived yesterday, though technically it had nothing to do with Brexit at all. Asked in traumatised El Paso what Donald Trump could do to prevent more atrocities at the trigger-happy hands of white supremacists, Beto O’Rourke lost his rag.

The former congressman’s campaign for the Democratic nomination has virtually evaporated, but it might just be revived by his splendid response to a stupendously dumb question. “What do you think?” he snapped, sensibly reckoning the answer – stop being a racist agent provocateur – too self-evident to be worth the respiratory effort of stating. “I mean, members of the press…” he added, “what the f***?”

And there, in a few short words, is that illuminating judgement on Brexit.