London Mayor Sadiq Khan. (Source: OBV Photos/flickr)
There may be an exception to every rule, but new London Mayor Sadiq Khan doesn’t fancy being Donald Trump’s.
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, has proposed banning Muslims from traveling to the United States but suggested on Tuesday that the policy need not apply to London’s first Muslim mayor.
Claiming to welcome Khan’s election, Trump said, “If he does a good job and, frankly, if he does a great job, that would be a terrific thing . . . There will always be exceptions.”
Khan was not exactly flattered.
“Donald Trump’s ignorant view of Islam could make both our countries less safe,” Khan said in a blistering response to the tentative thumbs-up. “It risks alienating mainstream Muslims around the world and plays into the hands of the extremists.”
Nor was he impressed by being singled out as a potentially safe Muslim.
“This isn’t just about me,” Khan noted. “It’s about my friends, my family and everyone who comes from a background similar to mine anywhere in the world.”
Maybe someone should have informed Trump that Khan, during his campaign, used Trump’s name as a watchword for fearmongering and racism. In fact, Khan slammed his Conservative opponents for employing tactics “straight out of Donald Trump’s playbook” and Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith’s handlers for using “fear and innuendo to try and turn different ethnic and religious groups against each other.”
Earlier this year, British lawmakers debated whether to ban Trump from entering the United Kingdom. So far, there’s been no word from the Khan camp on whether he will seek, as mayor, to revivify that proposal.
Then again, there’s also been no sign that he believes he’ll have to interact much, or even at all, with Trump on matters of politics. On the contrary, not only is Khan an unabashed supporter of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, but he also baldly admits, “I hope she trounces him.”
