Donald Trump is getting backlash from the British press after saying that London was "unrecognizable" because "Europe opened its doors to jihad," RadarOnline.com has learned.
The former president and presumed 2024 GOP candidate spoke at a rally in Wisconsin on Wednesday and raved that he "would never let that happen to the United States of America."
"We've seen what happened when Europe opened its doors to jihad. Look at Paris, look at London, they're no longer recognizable," Trump told the crowd in Waukesha.
"I'm gonna get myself into a lot of trouble with the folks in Paris and the folks in London," he added," but you know what, that's the fact."
"They are no longer recognizable and we can't let that happen to our country."
He also said during the speech that he would restore his travel ban and suspend refugee admissions "on day one of the Trump presidency" if elected this November, to keep "terrorists the hell out of our country."
"We do not need a jihad in the United States of America. We do not need our once-great cities to become hotbeds of terrorism," he said.
His explosive comments came a day before London Mayor Sadiq Khan went up against Conservative Party candidate Joanne McCartney to keep his position in the city's mayoral election.
Khan, who has had a long-running feud with Trump, said on Thursday in response to Trump's remarks that the London election was "an opportunity to show Donald Trump and [McCartney] that London will always choose hope over fear and unity over division."
The mayor also told a crowd last this month, “I’m going to take a selfie and I’m going to send it to a good friend of mine, Donald Trump. I’m going to say listen, bruv, this is how we run in London. I’m going to show him that our diversity is a strength, not a weakness.”
Paul Mason, a London-based journalist who writes for The New European, posted a video to X in support of Khan after voting on Thursday, and wrote in the caption: "Can you imagine London run by a Trump supporter? Me neither."
Sean O'Grady, the associate editor of The Independent, also weighed in on the former president's rally remarks, writing in a scathing op ed Thursday that "Trump had barely set foot in the UK before he became US president, and may have spent more time on his vulgar ersatz golf course in Scotland than in the nation’s capital."
O'Grady wrote that when Trump made "official visits" to London, he was "greeted by obsequious officials and dutifully polite members of the establishment, led by the Queen."
"He did not mix with the common folk of our land, nor did he express much interest in doing so," he continued.