Following the London Bridge terror attacks that killed seven people, Mayor Sadiq Khan has been — as one would imagine — occupied. He’s attended to all sorts of horrific business while also speaking to the media about his fury at terrorists’ appropriation of the Muslim faith. He also spoke at a vigil for victims, and throughout all of this, Trump has continued to trash Khan (to justify his own “travel ban”) based upon an out-of-context quote, for which Trump seized upon the “no reason to be alarmed” portion. Well, Khan didn’t voluntarily take the time to respond to Trump’s beyond-weird tactics, but ITV Channel 4 asked him what he thought of Trump’s criticism in light of a future state visit to England. Khan wants to rescind the invitation:
“I don’t think we should roll out the red carpet to the president of the U.S.A. in the circumstances where his policies go against everything we stand for … When you have a special relationship it is no different from when you have got a close mate. You stand with them in times of adversity but you call them out when they are wrong. There are many things about which Donald Trump is wrong.”
Khan knows that Trump’s tweets have partially served to reinforce the preexisting conflict between the two men. However, Khan is stressing that policy divisions are harmful and should be acknowledged, yet he pays lip service to the “special relationship” between the U.S. and England, which stands firm even while Trump’s acting like a persistent, insult-tossing mosquito.
(Meanwhile, British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, who some have likened to Trump, says that he “sees no reason” to throw away Trump’s invitation.)
Khan also stopped by Good Morning Britain, where the always-contrary Piers Morgan first (at the beginning of the below clip) tried to argue that Trump might have a point about how to stop terror, but Khan didn’t buy into the argument because of what he calls Trump’s “ignorant” history of Islamophobic remarks and policies. Yet Khan explained more about why he’s remained vocal in his opposition to Trump’s views:
“It’s very important that we have a close relationship with the U.S. president, whoever he is. It’s really important that we work closely with our closest allies, and whenever we’ve had problems in the past, the U.S. has come to our help … one of the things about having close mates and having a special relationship is to not just stand with them in adversity but call them out when they are wrong.”
It’s gotta be hard to stand firm in the face of Piers Morgan’s trolling efforts, but Khan somehow managed to do so. You can watch the clip below.