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Watch: British Parliament Debates Banning 'Bonkers' Republican Candidate, Donald Trump
After more than half a million people signed a petition to ban Trump from entering the UK, the government took up the issue—and it was quite colorful.
Yesterday, the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland debated an unusual--and quite sensational--topic: Donald Trump. In response to the inflammatory language the business mogul has employed against veterans, Muslims, Hispanics, the disabled, and women (to name a few) in his bid for the Republican party's presidential nomination, a petition was launched in the United Kingdom to ban him from entering the country on the grounds of hate speech. After more than half a million people signed the motion, the government was compelled to respond, and Members of Parliament (MPs) certainly did not pull punches.
The debate lasted for nearly three hours, much to the chagrin of Trump, who has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the Scottish economy in the form a real estate and a luxury golf course near Aberdeen. Throughout the session, MPs took turns accusing Trump of being everything from "bonkers" to a "demagogue," "buffoon," "racist, homophobic, [and] misogynistic," and "a poisonous, corrosive man." One noted that not only are his comments "profoundly offensive," they're also "dangerous."
In one of the many light-hearted exchanges, a Scottish MP said:
"He is the son of a Scottish immigrant, and I apologize for that."
An English MP commented, to approval:
"On that point of 1.6 billion Muslims [in the world], thank God there aren't 1.6 billion Trumps."
In the end, it was the words of another MP that best captured the debate:
"This is about buffoonery, and ultimately buffoonery should be met not with the blunt instrument of a ban, but with the classic British response of ridicule."
Watch some highlights below, pulled together by The Washington Post:
