Trump - just not fringe or funny anymore !?!

Bags I pull his hair to make sure it is real
(oh, I suppose I would be done for assault)

Quentin Letts said on Question Time that was why he should be allowed in, as he wanted to find out if it was a wig.
Let Quentin Letts be done for assault.

'In the UK, for example, the Public Order Act 1986 says:

"A person who uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or displays any written material which is threatening, abusive or insulting, is guilty of an offence if -

(a) he intends thereby to stir up racial hatred, or

(b) having regard to all the circumstances racial hatred is likely to be stirred up thereby."

"Racial hatred" is hatred against a group of persons "defined by reference to colour, race, nationality (including citizenship) or ethnic or national origins".

Additional acts outlaw hatred incited on grounds of religion or sexual orientation.'

The law that applies to Trump.

I think there will be a queue, Quentin can get behind me.

But I'd much rather he was locked up, roseq, along with Trump, of course.
Maybe sharing a cell would bring one of them to his senses.

Honestly I think he's got too much money to ever be arrested. If he was here and overstepped the mark, the police or some diplomat would have a quiet word and he'd be flying away in his private jet.

His hair does fascinate me though. I would LOVE to see it combed another way. It can't be a wig or a piece, it has to be his real hair. The hair surgeon on this video thinks Trump has probably had a flap and grafts. And at the end of the video he let's a woman look closely at his hair!

Donald Trump's hair

I have been sitting on the fence on this one but durhamjen's quoted extracts from the Public Order Act are leading me to think that it would be legally possible to ban him.

I think it may be difficult to unequivocally prove:

"he intends [thereby] to stir up racial hatred"

but it seems very likely that this criteria could be met:

"having regard to all the circumstances racial hatred is likely to be stirred up thereby."

Don't forget Fox News and the other extreme right-wing media in the US support Trump. That support may not last long enough to make him the GOP candidate in the Presidential election – and then, I suppose, we'd be left (or right) with another Bush. Remember that it was Fox News that first called the election for George W. Trump is currently leading the polls for the Republican nomination, but whether that is a true reflection of Republican voters' opinion or a piece of clever manipulation by the "Wise Old Men" of the GOP (and, dear god, do they have them) I certainly can't say.

Hmm. I think Trump's comments were he to utter them here might stir up some antagonistic feeling where it exists already, but I think they'd stir up far more anti-Trump feeling. So on balance I don't fear this lunatic though I do find him shocking. If it wasn't him it'd be someone else.

Philosopher Russell Blackford (@Metamagician on Twitter) says this: "If you try to abrogate the rights of nutjobs to cross state borders, you force principled liberals to waste their time defending nutjobs".

This is why I won't be signing the petition to ban Trump from entering the UK.

I think what worries me most is that certain, perfectly decent types laugh it off with....'Oh he's just saying what some people think'......we all have knee jerk thoughts to unpleasant events.....but, as we grow up we learn that certain things are best left unsaid. We learn that whipping up mass hysteria about dangerous elements in our lives will only ever result in chaos and recriminations.

This so called ban, I feel is just a way of people registering their distaste at this man's bigotry....just a way of people putting their hands up and saying they do not agree with what he is saying...I doubt anyone feels its going to have any effect and it would actually be interesting seeing him addressing a group like the Oxford Union with his views!

I cant see Bush being the new President. He is quite far down in the polls, and seems to be quite out of step with even a lot of the other Republican candidates.

You could be right, hildaw, but why don't people do a petition just to emphasise that a lot of people strongly disagree with him, if that's really what the petition is about? My cynical side thinks such petitions are a kind of annoying virtue signalling. Annoying because of the attack, whether it's meant or not, on a principle of free societies. It annoys me when people don't appear to think these things through properly. It worries me when people are so stupid as well.

I don't think he should be banned on the basis of what he has said in America. If he comes and tries to stir up racial or religious hatred here then I would want him deported.

If he breaks the law here, or anywhere, I hope he is subjected to the rule of law.

So we don't stop anyone from coming here no matter we know they speak hatred and intolerance in other countries , we have done in the past

If they are breaking our laws on inciting hatred while here, I suppose we extradite them or something. We do have laws about inciting hatred, don't we?

Took a long time to get rid of Abu Hamza though.

I don't think you can ban someone because of what they might say or because of what they've said in another country. Trump's suggestions about Muslims in America are certainly extreme but I think it's better to counter extreme speech with better arguments than to ban it.

Exactly, thatbags
We should not ever rush to want people banned because we do not agree with what they say. Smacks too much of the USSR in Communism days.

we have done in the past
Yes, I know, and that makes me a bit uneasy. Innocent until found guilty, surely?
Banning convicted murderers, rapists, etc is one thing, but on the basis of what someone might say - they might not - is too draconian imo.

However, we should be able to put them on a plane out of here very rapidly if they do start publicly spouting hatred.

thatbags a petition is a request or an appeal, so how can you have a petition that just disagrees about something?

I only heard the phrase virtue signalling in the last month, but already I hate it. It seems to be used almost every time someone voices an opinion in the media. As far as I'm concerned HildaW is right. Signing the petition is a gesture to register as part of a collective group, my dislike of Trump's statements (not just this latest one, but most of them).

Fortunately, it's far from a foregone conclusion Trump will win the GOP nomination, let alone become president. The BBC has an article today giving the opinions of four political experts on Trump's chances.

Trumps chances of election

The hypocrite has businesses in Muslim countries and employs Muslims, he is a son of an immigrant too ,i detest hypocrites

Married to a young beautiful Slovene, and used to be married to a Czech ...

As someone said the other day- just shows we do need immigrants to do the jobs (yuk...doesn't bear thinking about) locals just won't contemplate (sorry, cheap).

You're right, wilmak, about my idea not really being a good one but I don't think a petition (request to government) to keep someone out of the country because they have said things we don't like is a good idea either. I guess I'm looking for a better way to register disagreement with someone's politics.

I like your description of signing a petition as making a gesture to register as part of a collective group. I've heard that called identity or gesture politics. I'm not keen on it myself, though not totally opposed to it either. Belonging to a groupthink about something doesn't appeal to me–I dislike people-labels, which I think this can encourage–though I can see its appeal to many people.

I expect much of this will be misunderstood. If I think of a better way to say what I mean I'll return.

Isn't there a huge difference though, between criticising someone's belief- but saying your religion is silly/wrong/stupid/rubbish, etc, etc- which is unpleasant indeed for the recipients (freedom of speech)

and- using the above to then want to carry out sheer discrimination based on the above... In this case calling for..

'a total and omplete sjut-down on Muslims entering the United States'

words are just words, drawings are just drawings-

actions are very different. Because then, what next, armbands, trains and camps...and...