What a joke!
Donald Trump Jr. is facing demands to be banned from Australia prior to his upcoming tour in the country.
According to Newsweek, Trump Jr., the eldest son of the former US president and a well-known conservative figure, is set to embark on a speaking tour organized by Turning Point Australia, a nonprofit organization. The tour is scheduled to take place from July 9 to 11 and includes stops in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. Trump Jr. is expected to be accompanied by Nigel Farage, the former leader of the Brexit Party.
The announcement of Trump Jr.’s appearances has sparked calls for the Australian government to prevent his entry into the country. Critics in Australia have initiated petitions to prohibit him from obtaining a visa and have pledged to disrupt his speaking engagements.
One petition on Change.org, titled “Stop Donald Trump Jr. from receiving an Australian Visa,” has garnered over 14,000 signatures. The petition’s description claims that Trump Jr. is a drug-taking individual with bigoted views who should not be allowed to enter Australia for the purpose of garnering campaign contributions.
Comments from signatories of the petition include statements like “We do not want Donald Trump Jr. visiting Australia. Let him stay where he belongs, in the USA,” and “We already have enough extremists in our country. We don’t need more.”
Trump Jr. has expressed that he possesses a substantial fan base in Australia and has observed similarities between the issues faced by his supporters there and those in the United States, referring to “woke identity politics” and “cancel culture” as detrimental to Western society.
In a promotional video for the tour, Trump Jr. fondly recalled his previous visit to Australia during his college years, expressing admiration for the country, its people, and its natural beauty.
However, there are individuals who strongly oppose his visit and have organized protests to coincide with his speaking engagements. Activists affiliated with the Campaign Against Racism and Fascism plan to demonstrate at his Melbourne event, opposing what they perceive as his endorsement of “white supremacy, transphobia, and misogyny.” One of the protest organizers, Omar Hassan, emphasized their intention to counter far-right and neo-Nazi groups that may be drawn to Trump Jr.’s appearance, asserting that their presence would be firmly rejected by the local community.
Grace Hill, an officer representing the LGBTQ+ community within the National Union of Students and another protest organizer, cited the actions of Turning Point USA as motivation for their opposition. Hill stated that they aim to prevent similar events and policies from gaining traction in Australia, referring to Turning Point USA’s efforts to ban abortions and curtail transgender rights in the United States.