Donald Trump, you are now doing Isis's propaganda for them
Of course, banning Donald Trump from the UK will not stop him from being Donald Trump, just somewhere else. But this petition and the potential of a ban are symbolic gestures that carry a lot of weight
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Your support makes all the difference.Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump has dominated world news in the last few days following his call for Muslims to be banned from entering the US until in his own words, “we figure out what the hell is going on”.
As well as being a terrifyingly frank declaration of bigotry, Trump’s statement also undermines US security. His misguided belief that banning Muslims from the US would neutralise the threat of terrorism feeds the Isis narrative of war between Islam and the West. Slamming the door in the face of Muslims would only tip those on the brink of radicalisation over the edge, while further increasing distrust and violence. In short, Trump is off doing Isis’s propaganda for them.
It is incomprehensible for many of us how a man who comes out with such vile, Islamophobic rhetoric can also be a legitimate contender to run a country. And yet, here in Britain we can be proud that anti-Trump feeling is at an all-time high, following the unsurprising news that 61 percent of Ukip voters think that Trump’s policy is “appropriate” and a quarter of the British public support a plan to ban all Muslim immigration.
In perhaps the greatest verbal smackdown of recent times, Mayor of London Boris Johnson said in response to Trump’s speech about the apparently rampant radicalisation of Londoners that “the only reason I wouldn’t go to some parts of New York is the real risk of meeting Donald Trump”. Similarly, JK Rowling delivered the ultimate insult when she tweeted that Voldemort was nowhere near as bad as Trump. Even Nigel Farage thought he had gone too far – even if most of his supporters apparently didn’t.
Fortunately, the British public are beginning to recognise that Trump isn’t a laughing matter, but a dangerous one. A petition to ban Trump from entering the UK has reached 200,000 signatures, which means parliament will have to consider the motion for debate. The Home Office has the power to ban speakers from overseas coming to the UK under the “unacceptable behaviours or extremism exclusion” policy, and if Trump’s views were to be deemed as deplorable as those such as the Westboro Baptist Church and Ku Klux Klan officials then he too could be banned.
Of course, banning Donald Trump from the UK will not stop him from being Donald Trump, just somewhere else. There is also the nagging issue of free speech which puts a question mark over the idea of a ban. But this petition and the potential of a ban are symbolic gestures that carry a lot of weight.
Combined with the condemnation of the UK government, it sends a powerful message from Britain across the pond that hopefully might have some sort of influence. And it’s no hyperbole to say that he really could be a threat to national security, considering the glee Isis must be feeling at his divisive rhetoric and the very real possibility that he could one day become “the leader of the free world”.
Brits have realised that Trump has now made the leap from ridiculous to dangerous; one can only hope that this realisation occurs among potential Trump voters in America, and fast. In the wake of the Paris attacks, the San Bernardino shootings and other Isis-inspired terrorist attacks around the globe, the last thing we need is the language of Donald Trump getting anywhere near the White House. Thankfully, for the 200,000+ who signed the petition against his visit to the UK today, it’s clear that many of us still believe Love Trumps Hate.
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