The recent terrorist attack in London, committed by a Muslim man residing in the city, has the media and the folks in Hollywood going nuts — absolute bonkers. Not because of the act itself, which wounded dozens of innocent people, killing a Parliament guard, a local teacher, and an American tourist. Not because the assailant was a Muslim man who had been under investigation by Britain’s MI5 for terrorist ties. Oh, no, what prompted this recent anti-Trump backlash was none other than Donald Trump Jr., who dared to quote Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, in a Tweet.
Khan was elected as London’s first Muslim mayor in 2016. A member of the Labour Party, he can be characterized as a social Democrat. Just a few short months ago, when responding to a reporter from The Evening Standard, Khan warned that living in a large city, such as Paris, London and New York would bring greater chances of being affected by terrorism. The young Donald Trump simply repeated Khan’s actual words.
The interview was conducted in September 2016. Although it was not associated with this recent London attack, Khan’s dogma on terrorism can be applied to any, and all, future assaults by Isis, Al Qaeda or any other radical extreme group.
Mr. Khan told the Evening Standard: ‘It is a reality I’m afraid that London, New York, other major cities around the world have got to be prepared for these sorts of things.
‘That means being vigilant, having a police force that is in touch with communities, it means the security services being ready, but also it means exchanging ideas and best practice.’
The Hollywood Reporter (no big surprise) has put their spin on the latest Trump tweeting:
U.S. President Donald Trump may have taken a while to offer any words regarding Thursday’s deadly attacks in London, a tweet sent from an iPhone at around 1 a.m. U.K. time on Friday, some 11 hours later. But his eldest son wasted no time, taking to social media just as the British capital was scrambling to make sense of an incident that left five people dead.
Maybe Trump Jr. was making a case for destroying terrorism instead of just bracing for the inevitable attacks—you know if you reside in a large city. The Hollywood Reporter tried to downplay Khan’s interview and quote, probably hoping that it would just fade away in the internet vortex:
The first son was instantly criticized by commentators in the U.K. for using an old interview — one that was not a response to Wednesday’s attacks (it came following a bombing in New York City that injured 29 people) in an attempt to make a point.
“You use a terrorist attack on our city to attack London’s Mayor for your own political gain. You’re a disgrace,” wrote a member of Parliament Wes Streeting.
Ciaran Jenkins, a correspondent for Channel 4 News, asked if Trump Jr. had “even bothered” to read the article before “goading” the mayor. “Headline is based on very first sentence, which if you’d bothered to read it could apply to any major city in the world,” he added.
Maybe Junior couldn’t resist the irony. Maybe his timing was off. Or maybe he isn’t afraid to rattle the cages.
The world has turned the other cheek one too many times, and it’s abundantly clear that this is not a problem that will be resolved if we just hug it out with our unnamed enemies and sing kumbaya. Emotions are high in London as the city attempts to make sense of how or why this latest act of violence was orchestrated in a city who self-proclaims to have a peaceful blending of all cultures and colors. Candlelight vigils and cries for peace on social media are touching, but when global leaders, such as Mayor Khan, dismiss terrorism as ‘part and parcel’ for the privilege of living in a major metropolitan area, we have an even larger problem. How did this happen? The answer is: They let it happen, and America would be wise to learn from their mistake.
