Why oppose Trump but not REAL tyrants?
Thousands of people demonstrated against the visit to the UK of the democratically elected US President. Yet when the Commonwealth leaders visited London a few months ago, there wasn’t a murmur, even though in 37 of those 53 countries homosexuality is outlawed. In the past few years, London has welcomed Xi Jinping, the leader of China, which has an appalling record on human rights. Protests? not that you’d notice. Carrying my homemade placard emblazoned with the slogan ‘The Silent Majority Welcomes President Trump’, I talked to protesters. I was struck by their ignorance about American politics. Some couldn’t tell me what party Mr Trump represents while others didn’t know who his presidential opponent had been. Like him or not, Donald Trump is delivering what he promised in his election campaign: the American economy is thriving, jobs lost during the stagnant eight years under Barack Obama have been re-established and the stock market is buoyant. By getting the leader of north Korea to the negotiating table, Mr Trump has achieved something every President since Eisenhower has failed to do. His style might be disconcerting, but he is intuitive, decisive and bold. The puerile demonstrations could cause long-term damage to our economy and Anglo-American relations. Pictures of the protesters will have been seen in the US and could cause irreparable harm to our country’s relationship with the millions of Americans who
voted for Mr Trump. It makes me ashamed to be British. SIMON WARR, Osterley, West London.
RARELY have I seen a more pointless protest than those against President Trump staged here in Scotland. He’s not our President and was in the UK after a Nato summit – the US is the key element of Nato and even the SNP wants us to stay within the defence alliance. JO HENDERSON, Edinburgh.
THE level of sanctimoniousness has reached an all-time high. As people die on the streets of Nicaragua, not a word from our bleeding-heart liberals. No coach-loads descended to protest about the status of women during the visit by the Saudi Crown Prince. There was no street protest or novelty balloon about the industrial-scale child abuse in Rochdale or Rotherham. So how can we explain the hysteria? Mr Trump is a white, privileged, racist misogynist from a capitalist country, so in terms of the identity politics hierarchy of hate, he is public enemy number one. Free speech only seems to apply to virtue-signalling liberal Leftists.
JOHN McCLEMENTS, Newtownards, Co. Down. I AM saddened and appalled by those who think that exercising a democratic right of peaceful protest against Donald Trump is an affront to his office. This is the man who separated immigrant children from their parents and caged them like animals. People should condemn this by any lawful means at their disposal. To do otherwise is to sanction his actions as President, when he is a disgrace to a fine country and the office he represents. By inviting Mr Trump to Britain, the UK Government discredited our record on human rights and put the Queen in an embarrassing position. Our special relationship should not determine that any action by a US President is acceptable.
MIKE HARDY, High Wycombe, Bucks.