Sadiq Khan, who was elected mayor of London late last week and became the first Muslim mayor of a Western capital, made it quite clear yesterday that he has no interest in being an exception to a travel ban on Muslim’s that the xenophobic Trump proposed on the campaign trail and reiterated the ignorance of such a policy.
Trump’s hate speech turns the news into an editorial
While I would love to simply report the news, the race baiting and hate speech from the orange muppet and caricature that is Donald J. Trump makes this near impossible. While presumably simply going after votes, Trump becomes dangerous given his base. The suggestion of building a wall that would be near physically impossible at a ridiculous cost along the United States wall and making Mexico pay for it can only be called asinine.
The call for a ban on an entire religion from traveling to the United States is far worse. When these remarks were made Trump, the Donald did make it clear that his idea would only be temporary and likened to the one of the darkest moments in United States history, the internment of Japanese Americans following the attacks of Pearl Harbor and the declaration of war by the United States on the Japanese empire.
Trump’s direct quote when this policy was first proposed called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”
But, apparently, he would be willing to make an exception for Mr. Khan who recently became London’s new mayor replacing Boris Johnson.
On Monday, Mr. Trump told The New York Times that “there will always be exceptions,” when specifically asked about Khan backtracking on “total and complete.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan responds via interviews and Twitter
“Trump’s ignorant view of Islam could make both our countries less safe,” Mr. Khan wrote on Twitter on Tuesday morning. “It risks alienating mainstream Muslims. London has proved him wrong.”
Apparently, Mr. Khan didn’t much care for Trump saying good things about it him in the same interview with the times when he said, “I was happy to see that [Khan’s election].” Not sparing his general overuse of superlatives Trump continued, “I think it’s a very good thing, and I hope he does a very good job because frankly that would be very, very good.”
Sadiq Khan said in an interview with Time magazine following his election that he was planning on visiting the United States soon, ahead of a potential Trump election and promised ban.
In addition to speaking about his travel plans, Mr. Khan told Time that he was “confident” that Trump would not be elected this November.
When Trump first proposed his ban, Khan campaigning himself at the time said that Trump’s comments were “divisive and outrageous” adding, “I hope Trump loses — badly.”
While a recent poll showed that a majority of British Muslims (51%) believe that homosexuality should be illegal, Khan is a supporter of same-sex marriage and a number of other policies reviled by many in the Muslim community both in the UK and elsewhere.
“What I think the election showed was that actually there is no clash of civilization between Islam and the West,” he said, adding of jihadists, “What better antidote to the hatred they spew than someone like me being in this position?”
