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Trump is the political equivalent of a fatberg, says Naomi Klein

'It gets so grim that we have to laugh', said the Canadian author

Ashley Cowburn
Political Correspondent
Tuesday 26 September 2017 18:43 BST
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Canadian author and activist Naomi Klein speaks at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton, on September 26
Canadian author and activist Naomi Klein speaks at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton, on September 26 (Reuters)

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Naomi Klein, the renowned Canadian author, has mocked Donald Trump claiming he is the “political equivalent” of fatberg – the congealed lump of fat and sanitary products currently blocking London’s sewers.

Speaking at Labour’s party conference in Brighton, the best-selling writer won applause as she likened the US President to the 130-tonne mass of fat, wet wipes and nappies found to blocking a section of the London sewers earlier this month.

“You know that horrible thing currently clogging up the London sewers. I believe you call it the fat berg?” she said. “Well Trump, he’s the political equivalent of that.”

She continued: “A merger of all that is noxious in the culture, economy and body politic, all kind of glommed together in a self-adhesive mass. And we’re finding it very, very hard to dislodge.

“It gets so grim that we have to laugh. But make no mistake: whether it’s climate change or the nuclear threat, Trump represents a crisis that could echo through geologic time.”

She also used her speech to address the Labour leader who was sitting alongside her at the conference, adding: “You went and showed us all that you can win. Now you have to win. We all do. Winning is a moral imperative.

“With the transformed Labour Party in 2017, and with the next Prime Minister of Britain, Jeremy Corbyn – because in the last election, that’s exactly what you did.”

“The stakes are too high and time is too short to settle for anything less.”

She added: “Theresa May ran a cynical campaign based on exploiting fear and shock to grab more power for herself – first the fear of a bad Brexit deal, then the fear following the horrific terror attacks in Manchester and London.”

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