Stop hate, dump Trump campaign

NEW YORK – Prominent actors, writers and thinkers joined a “Stop Hate, Dump Trump” campaign to denounce the billionaire Republican presidential frontrunner, saying he is a threat to the US.

Actors Harry Belafonte, Kerry Washington and Jane Fonda, filmmaker Jonathan Demme and intellectual Noam Chomsky are among those lending their support to the drive to prevent Donald Trump from getting into the White House.

“We are offering Americans a chance to be heard and engage in action, as Trump’s campaign gains momentum even as he increases his hateful and divisive rhetoric,” said playwright Eve Ensler, one of three co-founders.

“We also intend to put the media and political institutions on notice that they are accountable for normalising Trump’s extremism by treating it as entertainment, by giving it inordinate and unequal airtime and by refusing to investigate, interrogate or condemn it appropriately.”

Trump has slammed Mexicans and illegal immigrants, and called for a ban on Muslims entering the US.

“We believe Trump is a grave threat to democracy, freedom, human rights, equality and the welfare of our country and all our people,” the campaign said. “History has shown us what happens when people refuse to stand against hate-filled leaders. We pledge ourselves to speak out in every way possible against the politics of hate and exclusion he represents. ”– AFP