London mayor Sadiq Khan said he would be willing to meet Donald Trump, even as he warned the US president could be “inadvertently radicalising people” and was “not a force for good”.
The Labour politician dismissed Trump’s recent jibes during a visit to Scotland, where the president called him “a nasty person” who had “done a terrible job”. Khan said the remarks were “water off a duck’s back”, though at times they made him feel “nine years old again” and “in the school playground”.
Speaking at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Khan criticised Trump’s record. “Somebody who has views like he does about black people, about women, about gays, about Muslims, about Mexicans, thinks I’m nasty. Really. He is the leader of the free world, arguably the most powerful man in the world, and really,” he said.
Khan noted that since Trump began his second term in January, “there have never been more Americans applying to British citizenship and living in London”, adding: “I think Americans have got good taste by and large.”
The mayor said he hoped Trump would come to London on his state visit next month, stressing that the capital’s “diversity” was a strength. But he warned that some of Trump’s rhetoric risked moving “potentially dangerous” views into the mainstream.
“He inadvertently – I’m not going to suggest he does it deliberately – he inadvertently could be radicalising people with views that could lead to them doing things that are dangerous,” Khan said.
Still, Khan said he would be “more than happy to meet President Trump” to show it was possible to be both British and Muslim. “If there was an opportunity to meet President Trump, I would be more than happy to do so,” he said. (Agencies)
