‘Trump Baby’ takes protest to new heights
‘Everyone is feeling uplifted by this,’ says man behind blimp
LONDON — After months of scheming, plotting and crowdfunding, Leo Murray cranked his head skyward and watched what might be the world’s most famous helium-filled balloon climb into the sky.
“What a joyous occasion,” said Murray, 41, shortly after the diaper-clad “Trump Baby” blimp took flight in Parliament Square. “Everyone is feeling uplifted by this.”
Never has an inflatable gotten such international media attention. And truth is, the blimpette isn’t all that large. We’ve seen bigger bouncy castles.
But the 20-foot blimp depicting an orange, angry, diaper-wearing Donald Trump as a baby has become the symbol of the large-scale protests that have met the U.S. president during his visit to the United Kingdom.
“It’s hilarious, and that’s good — it’s good to put a smile on people’s faces in these troubling times,” said Murray, the brains behind the blimp protest.
But not everyone is smiling.
In an interview with the Sun newspaper, conducted this week, Trump acknowledged the balloon, saying that protests like this one in the British capital made him feel unwelcome.
“I guess when they put out blimps to make me feel unwelcome, no reason for me to go to London,” he told the newspaper.
Some of Trump’s supporters have gone further, calling it insulting and demeaning.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan, a Twitter foe of Trump’s, defended his decision to allow the balloon to fly near Parliament. He told the BBC on Friday that as long as protests were safe and peaceful, it wasn’t his job to “censure” or decide what’s in good or bad taste.