admin
London – The Scottish government sacked United States presidential hopeful Donald Trump as a business ambassador and a university revoked his honorary degree on Wednesday after he called for a ban on Muslims entering the US. A petition to bar the Republican frontrunner from Britain reached more than 358,000 signatures amid an outcry over comments by the tycoon, who owns golf courses in Scotland and has family links to the country.
“Trump’s recent remarks have shown that he is no longer fit to be a business ambassador for Scotland,” a spokesperson for the regional government said as he was dropped as a “GlobalScot” ambassador, a position he took up in 2006.
Trump had called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on” following a shooting last week that left 14 people dead in California.
Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen announced it would revoke an honorary doctorate of business administration it awarded to Trump in 2010 because of statements “that are wholly incompatible with the ethos and values of the university”.
Remarks by the property billionaire that police feared for their lives in parts of London due to radicalisation also caused a social media outcry and drew the ire of the capital’s mayor, Boris Johnson.
“When Donald Trump says there are parts of London that are no-go areas, I think he is betraying a quite stupefying ignorance that makes him frankly unfit to hold the office of the president of the United States,” Johnson told ITV News.
Web users mocked the blustering tycoon with the ironic hashtag #trumpfacts. One tweet carried an image of Queen Elizabeth II wearing a headscarf with the inscription: “Even the British monarch is now forced to wear a hijab”.
The petition to bar Trump from entering Britain will be considered for a debate in parliament, like all petitions that reach over 100,000 signatures. “The UK has banned entry to many individuals for hate speech. The same principles should apply to everyone who wishes to enter the UK,” the petition read.
The appeal was launched by Scottish resident Suzanne Kelly, a long-time critic of the 69-year-old who was also behind the pressure on Robert Gordon University to revoke Trump’s honorary degree.
Over 75,000 people signed her petition demanding that the university take action because of “Trump’s unrepentant, persistent verbal attacks on various groups of people based on nationality, religion, race and physical abilities”.
Finance minister George Osborne told parliament that Trump’s comments were “nonsense” but added that debate was “the best way to deal with Donald Trump and his views rather than trying to ban presidential candidates”. Twenty-four lawmakers have put their names to two House of Commons motions condemning Trump’s remarks.
One calls on the government “to refuse a visa allowing Donald Trump to visit the UK until Trump withdraws his comments”. British police issued a rare rebuke after comments by Trump to US network MSNBC claiming there were places in London “that are so radicalised that the police are afraid for their own lives”.
A spokesperson for Scotland Yard said Trump “could not be more wrong” and invited all US presidential candidates for a briefing “on the reality of policing London”
Meanwhile, president Barack Obama used an event commemorating the end of slavery to pointedly call for tolerance and respect on Wednesday, amid a political firestorm after Trump proposed to bar Muslims from entering the country.
In a speech at the US Capitol marking the 150th anniversary of the 13th amendment – which banned slavery – Obama did not mention the Republican presidential candidate by name, but made the political context clear.
“Remember that our freedom is bound up with the freedom of others, regardless of what they look like . . . or what faith they practice,” he said, to loud cheers from lawmakers.
He urged Americans to do what previous generations had done and “rise above cynicism and fear”. Obama’s comments were much more subtle than those of his lieutenants, who have roundly condemned Trump’s remarks.
The White House on Tuesday angrily challenged Republicans to denounce their party’s presidential frontrunner. Painting Trump as a “carnival barker” with “fake hair” whose campaign belonged in the “dustbin of history”, White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said Trump’s plan should disqualify him from office. – Al Jazeera
Online Reporter