First Lady dazzles ... as world’s women roar
Millions march against Trump
Marchers in Dublin join the worldwide day of protests against Trump presidency
THOUSANDS of people marched through Dublin yesterday in solidarity with the Women’s March On Washington – joining more than two million worldwide protesting the incoming US administration.
An estimated 500,000 turned out in Washington DC – twice the number that attended Trump’s inauguration on Friday and well beyond the estimated crowds – filling the entire planned route and making a formal march toward the White House impossible. Actresses Scarlett Johansson, Drew Barrymore, Harry Potter actress Emma Watson, singer Cher and Yoko Ono were among those to take to the streets. In Chicago, organisers cancelled the march portion of their event for safety reasons after the overflow crowd reached an estimated 150,000.
They marched in bright pink hats with knitted cat ears and brandishing placards saying, ‘My p **** is not up for grabs’ – a reference to a 2005 tape recording which emerged during the presidential
‘I watched his inauguration speech in despair’
election campaign in which Trump bragged about groping women.
Meanwhile, in Dublin around 5,000 people had to be moved from the GPO to a larger space closer to Parnell Street. Approximately 300 people also turned out in Galway to join the international protests, as men, women and children marched in solidarity with women’s rights sporting bright pink hats and carrying banners declaring women’s rights to be human rights and appealing for respectful policies regarding immigrants, religions and LGBT rights. Signs in Dublin – held by protesters of all ages and genders – bore slogans such as ‘Smash the patriarchy’, ‘Our bodies, our minds, our power’, and ‘Make America Kind Again.’
In London, up to 100,000 protesters took to the streets, according to organisers, including city mayor Sadiq Khan and X-Files actress Gillian Anderson.
Further protests were held across Europe, Australia and South Africa.
Meanwhile, Trump made his first ‘stop’ yesterday to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia holding a press conference in which he blasted the media, vastly overestimated the inaugural crowds, boasted about his image, said he felt ‘young’ and pledged his support to intelligence services.
‘As you know, I have a running war with the media,’ he said. ‘They are among the most dishonest human beings on earth.’
He said the media did not adequately reflect the numbers of people who turned up for his inauguration. ‘We had a massive field of people, you saw them,’ he said.
‘I get up this morning, I turn on one of the networks, and they show an empty field. I said: “Wait a minute.” I made a speech, I looked out, it looked like a million, a million and a half people. They showed a field where there were practically nobody standing there.’
The crowd reportedly numbered only about 250,000.
He also seemed to claim the weather deliberately stayed nice for his speech.
‘God looked down and said: “We’re not gonna let it rain on your speech,”’ he said.
Trump also bragged about the number of times he graced the cover of Time magazine.
‘I have been on their cover, like, 15 or 16 times,’ he said. ‘I think we have the all-time record in the history of Time magazine. Like, if Tom Brady is on the cover, it’s one time because he won the Superbowl or something.’
He also spoke of an uncle he had in academia and said: ‘Trust me, I’m like a smart person.’
He has also made progress on his commitment to reverse Obama’s policies. He has signed an executive order aimed at ripping up ‘Obamacare’. He repealed Obama’s ‘Affordable Care Act’ banning government agencies implementing any new law placing a ‘fiscal burden’ on states.
Trump also moved to kill off Obama’s scheme to boost affordable homes by suspending legislation designed to reduce mortgage insurance premium rates.
More major policy announcements will follow ‘within days’, said Trump’s spokesman Sean Spencer. He said Trump will withdraw from the 12-nation TransPacific Partnership deal because it is ‘detrimental to US businesses and workers.
Trump has vowed to renegotiate North American Free Trade Agreement approved by Bill Clinton two decades ago – or withdraw from it.
Defence Secretary General James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly were the first two
members of Trump’s Cabinet to be sworn in. Trump also signed a proclamation declaring ‘a national day of patriotism’.
Government websites immediately began reflecting the shift in power. The official WhiteHouse. gov page was revamped to remove pages about gay rights and climate change. Trump also found time to visit the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia last night in what was widely seen as a bid to ‘mend fences’ with US intelligence chiefs.
The President had blamed intelligence officials for allegedly leaking a discredited dossier written by a former British spy which claimed he paid for prostitutes to commit lewd sex acts in front of him during a visit to Russia.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Theresa May, who is expected to fly to Washington DC next week to meet Trump, made it clear she strongly disapproved of some of his most controversial statements.
Asked if she could forge a close rapport with a man accused of ‘misogynistic and racist’ remarks, she said: ‘I’ve been clear about those areas where I feel some of the comments he has made were unacceptable. The whole point about (a special relationship) with the US is that we can sit down and be very frank with each other about what we think.’
And last night, online BBC reports that the new US president had been shot were blamed on hacking.
The broadcaster claimed it was ‘hacked’ after one of its regional networks falsely reported that President Trump had been injured by gunfire.
BBC Northampton, a local radio station and website, shocked followers when it tweeted ‘Breaking News: President Trump is injured in arm by gunfire #Inauguration’ No such incident occurred. The tweet was swiftly replaced with an effusive message from BBC Northampton: ‘Apologies to anyone who saw an unusual Tweet from our account this morning. We do appear to have been hacked and we are looking into how.’
‘Some of his comments were unacceptable’