Gransnet forums

News & politics

Trump - just not fringe or funny anymore !?!

(218 Posts)
granjura Wed 09-Dec-15 12:21:29

Anyone else seriously concerned at the rise of Trump in the USA? It seems that the more extreme, the more crazy, the more fascist he and his 'solutions' become- the more his ratings go up. You would have thought that people would begin to think he is a loose and dangerous canon- but no- they love him all the more.

My mother was studying German at Munich University in 1933- and this is exactly what she described.

And we can't just say 'this is the USA' and it has little to do with us. We have no vote of course- but we certainly live in the same crazy world.

youtu.be/_rMsgmaBV8g

Monthy Python- they knew how to recognize a witch- but how on earth do you recognize a 'Muslim' ???

thatbags Fri 11-Dec-15 10:40:38

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?

Anniebach Fri 11-Dec-15 10:38:35

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

thatbags Fri 11-Dec-15 10:36:19

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

rosequartz Fri 11-Dec-15 10:33:16

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.

thatbags Fri 11-Dec-15 09:54:44

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.

soontobe Fri 11-Dec-15 09:42:50

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.

HildaW Fri 11-Dec-15 09:22:30

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!

thatbags Fri 11-Dec-15 08:57:51

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.

thatbags Fri 11-Dec-15 06:28:15

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.

absent Fri 11-Dec-15 03:05:32

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.

Eloethan Fri 11-Dec-15 01:46:49

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."

WilmaKnickersfit Fri 11-Dec-15 00:39:11

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. shock And at the end of the video he let's a woman look closely at his hair! grin

Donald Trump's hair

durhamjen Fri 11-Dec-15 00:32:01

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.

rosequartz Fri 11-Dec-15 00:20:31

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

durhamjen Fri 11-Dec-15 00:19:09

'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.

durhamjen Fri 11-Dec-15 00:13:10

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.

rosequartz Fri 11-Dec-15 00:05:40

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

durhamjen Fri 11-Dec-15 00:03:04

I wondered about that earlier, roseq. Citizen's arrest, it would have to be.
I think there would be a queue.

rosequartz Thu 10-Dec-15 23:58:12

if he was permitted to enter the UK and voice his beliefs here, those beliefs would fall into a number of categories of exceptions to this country's freedom of speech legislation.
wilma in that case, could he be arrested?
That could be very interesting indeed.

rosequartz Thu 10-Dec-15 23:56:43

I thought it was just an elaborate comb-over
I'm sure it's real, which makes it even more frightening grin

rosequartz Thu 10-Dec-15 23:55:58

Those who wish to ban his point of view, are forgetting the right of freedom of speech that my father fought for.

Greenockgran you have a very valid point there.
Perhaps we should just let him come and make an idiot of himself.

Ana Thu 10-Dec-15 23:50:47

If that's a wig, it's certainly not British-made!

I thought it was just an elaborate comb-over...tchconfused

ajanela Thu 10-Dec-15 23:38:31

A very nice kind English friend went to live in USA has become an obsessive Trump supporter, found religion, a racist and muslin hater. I fear that Trump could get elected and then I would fear for the world.

Anniebach Thu 10-Dec-15 23:36:18

I think as you do Wilma,

I hope his wig doesn't have a made in Britain tag sewn in

Greenockgran Thu 10-Dec-15 23:20:44

If you can buy a Scottish golf course, and still look sh*t in a wig, no wonder he has been told to go away as as business ambassador. Doh! I need to go to bed?.