Double trouble: The startling similarities between Johnson and Trump

OVER the past few days both Donald Trump and Boris Johnson have been the subject of high profile news stories involving alleged and potential misdemeanours towards women. Be it the 22 women who have gone on the record to accuse Trump of sexual misconduct, his “Grab ‘em by the pussy” comments or a long list of sexist remarks, the President has a shocking equality record.

Trump’s attitude towards women is something that he has in common with Prime Minister in waiting Boris Johnson, whose long list of infidelity and bust-ups with lovers has seen him divorced, locked out his own home and most-recently, visited by police after a loud domestic disturbance with partner Carrie Symonds.

RACISM

DONALD Trump has a record of racist remarks dating back to his days as a property tycoon where his firm was accused of attempting to avoid renting apartments to African-Americans in the 70s. In 1989 he took out full page adverts in several newspapers calling for the death penalty to be handed out to five black and Latino teenagers accused of raping a white woman in Central Park.

They were later exonerated thanks to DNA evidence, but Trump continued to brand them guilty until late 2016, a decade after they were cleared. He has labelled Mexicans “rapists”, demand a carpet ban on all Muslim immigrants in 2015 and said that he would rather see immigrants come from Norway as opposed to “shithole” countries like Haiti and Nigeria.

Trump has also attacked black athletes for kneeling during the American anthem in protest against racial inequality and refused to disavow support from Klu Klux Klan boss David Dukes.

Trump’s record on Native American issues is also poor and he called Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is of Native American heritage, “Pocahontas”.

Boris Johnson has faced similar scrutiny throughout his career. Last year, he penned a column in the Telegraph on Denmark’s Burqa ban where he opined that it was “absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letter boxes,” and that Burqas made women look like “bank robbers.”

READ MORE: Ian Blackford demands release of Boris Johnson bust-up tape

In 2002, he wrote: “It is said that the Queen has come to love the Commonwealth, partly because it supplies her with regular cheering crowds of flag-wearing pickaninnies.”

In the same column, he referred to then-PM Tony Blair’s visit to Africa.

“They say he is shortly off to the Congo. No doubt... their tribal warriors will all break out in watermelon smiles,” Johnson wrote.

He wrote in the Spectator that the “best fate for Africa would be if the old colonial powers, or their citizens, scrambled once again in her direction; on the understanding that this time they will not be asked to feel guilty.” He followed this with an embarrassing gaffe during his disastrous turn as foreign secretary, when he was ticked off during a trip to Burma for reciting Kipling’s the Road to Mandalay. As an editor, he oversaw the publication of articles written about racial eugenics and a poem which called for the extermination of Scots.

POPULISM

BOTH men have relied on the idea that sovereignty comes before policy. Trumps ascension from reality TV star to president was built on the promise that he would “Make America great again”. His America first rhetoric allowed him to abuse his opponents and detractors, his populist politics a shield against criticism.

Boris’ populism, all too evident when he said the country would see £350 million a week paid into the coffers of the NHS rather than the EU.

His leadership pitch has been based on the notion that he will complete the Brexit mission by October 31. He said the threat of walking away from the negotiations all but guarantee the UK a good deal. Like Trump, Boris’ campaign is built upon nothing but bluster.

And it is clear he has learned many lessons from the Donald – his exchange with Beth Rigby where he dismissed her criticisms of his “letterbox” comments about Muslim women as “speaking my mind” and the bays of his allies in the press at her question – a prime example.

LIES

BORIS Johnson and Donald Trump are liars.

Trump lied to escape military service in Vietnam. His business career is pock marked with lies. He said that climate change isn’t real. Earlier this month he said that “There has never been, ever before, an administration that’s been so open and transparent,” as his own. In April 2019, he said “The noise (from windmills) causes cancer.”

He even said that his father, Fred Trump, was “born in a very wonderful place in Germany.”

Trump Snr was born in the Bronx.

On the allegations of Russian meddling in the election, Trump said: “If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?” The allegations themselves came a month before the election started.

He said Barack Obama “founded ISIS,” adding “I would say the co-founder would be crooked Hillary Clinton.” Boris was sacked by the Times for making up a quote and then made a name for himself making up stories about EU policies as the Daily Telegraph’s man in Brussels. In 1999 he took the job editing the Spectator on the condition that he wouldn’t stand for parliament, which he did anyway in 2001.

Editing the Spectator in 2004, he was forced to apologise after an article blamed drunken Liverpool fans for the Hillsborough disaster and accusing the city of wallowing in victim status.

As London Mayor he promised to have manned ticket offices at every train station in the city, but then closed them to pay for a 24-hour tube. Rough sleeping doubled during his mayorship, after he promised to eradicate it by 2012. He said that police numbers would increase. They did not.

He was sacked by Michael Howard for lying about an extramarital affair in 2004.

And his quoting of the NHS claims on the Brexit bus saw him almost taken to court.