Prime Minister ‘insensitive’ to public anger over Trump’s visit
THERESA MAY’S desire to push ahead with Donald Trump’s state visit shows she is “insensitive” to growing public anger, a senior MP has claimed.
Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan delivered a further sign of the Government’s commitment to the invitation, writing in a letter to Labour’s Paul Flynn that the event is an opportunity to “further advance” the close relationship between the US and the UK.
But Sir Alan added British officials have yet to finalise what the US president would do on his visit, while also reiterating no date has been fixed for the controversial event.
Former shadow minister Mr Flynn criticised the Government’s stance and said opposition has “almost certainly risen” since the invitation was debated in Parliament in February, which was triggered by a petition claiming a state visit would “cause embarrassment” to the Queen.
The petition attracted more than 1.8m signatures while a separate one backing Mr Trump’s state visit received 317,542 signatures. The visit received no mention in the Queen’s Speech, fuelling speculation it had been put on the backburner. This came after the White House denied reports Mr Trump had told Mrs May he does not want to go ahead with the trip if it is going to lead to large-scale demonstrations. During the General Election campaign, Mr Flynn wrote to the Prime Minister asking her to cancel or postpone the invitation given there was “widespread talk of impeachment” surrounding Mr Trump. Mr Flynn, MP for Newport West, said: “The Government is clearly insensitive to the growing feeling against President Trump’s state visit.”
PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has tweeted a mock video of himself beating up a man with a CNN logo over his face
He is seen tackling the man to the ground before pummelling him as he lies on the floor next to a wrestling ring.
Mr Trump posted the clip with the hashtags “#FraudNewsCNN #FNN” on Sunday.
The modified footage is from WWE’s WrestleMania 23, when he featured against WWE head Vince McMahon during a staged “battle of the billionaires” fight.
It is the latest in Mr Trump’s ongoing row with the mainstream media and what he describes as “fake news”.
It comes a day after Mr Trump defended his use of social media and branded his tweets “modern day presidential”.
In a previous tweet he said: “The FAKE & FRAUDULENT NEWS MEDIA is working hard to convince Republicans and others I should not use social media – but remember, I won the 2016 election with interviews, speeches and social media.
“I had to beat #FakeNews, and did. “We will continue to WIN!” He added: “My use of social media is not Presidential – it’s MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL. Make America Great Again!”
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said last week Mr Trump “in no way, form or fashion has ever promoted or encouraged violence”.
CNN responded in a statement: “It is a sad day when the President of the United States encourages violence against reporters. Clearly, Sarah Huckabee Sanders lied when she said the President had never done so.
“Instead of preparing for his overseas trip, his first meeting with Vladimir Putin, dealing with North Korea and working on his health care bill, he is instead involved in juvenile behaviour far below the dignity of his office. We will keep doing our jobs. He should start doing his.”
Mr Trump recently abused TV hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, branding him “psycho” and her “crazy” and claimed she was “bleeding badly from a face-lift” when he saw them at his Florida estate in December.
The video was posted several days ago by a Reddit user with the title “Trump takes down fake news.” It was not clear whether that was where it originated or where Mr Trump found it. The user who posted it has a history of posts using anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant language.
I won the 2016 election with interviews, speeches and social media. US President Donald Trump.