Atrocious Misuse of Language

In one fell swoop Mr. Cameron has taken the UK out of the EU and probably broken the UK.
In his speech to the Commons yesterday he described hostility to Poles living in Britain as "despicable" and the perpetrators as "racists".
My beef is not with the word "despicable" (although yesterday I had the misfortune to meet a woman who once said to me "You are despicable"). It is with the word "racist" (which I have also had directed at me).
The usual word for people who don't like foreigners occupying their territory is "patriot" or "nationalist".
Patriots are usually admired, so Mr. Cameron avoided that.
Nationalists are identified with Scotland. Ditto.
On this day in 1914 a Serb nationalist (no one calls him a racist) committed an atrocious assassination. (He told his captors he hadn't meant to kill the wife.) Archduke Ferdinand was killed not for being a bad man but for being a good man who wanted to smooth things over.
(P.S. To cap the above, England lost at football to Iceland! in the European Cup yesterday.)