London mayor Sadiq Khan mocks Trump for playing golf as Hurricane Dorian moves dangerously close to the US
London Mayor Sadiq Khan mocked President Donald Trump over the weekend for canceling a trip to Poland to commemorate the start of World War II and instead choosing to comment on Category 4 Hurricane Dorian while playing golf at his private club in Virginia.
Khan, who traveled to Poland to mark the important occasion, told Politico in an interview Sunday: “He’s (Trump's) clearly busy dealing with a hurricane out on the golf course."
He also slammed Trump for encouraging racists to voice their opinions on social media. “These people have been inspired by mainstream politicians who subscribe to their point of view,” Khan said. "He is a guy who amplifies racist tweets; amplifies the tweets of fascists; says things that are deeply objectionable. If I don’t stand up and call that out, I think I’m doing a disservice to Londoners who chose me as their mayor.”
On Thursday, Trump announced in the White House Rose Garden that Vice President Mike Pence would be replacing him for the visit to Poland as the POTUS planned to stay in the United States to monitor Hurricane Dorian that was gaining in strength.
After staying in Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, where he was seemingly keeping a close eye on Dorian's path with the help of his team of experts, the president traveled by helicopter to his private Virginia golf club for several hours, accompanied by a FEMA official, claiming that he was being briefed "every hour" abut the hurricane situation.
Trump also tweeted out a number of updates about Dorian, one of which was criticized by the media as being categorically untrue.
"In addition to Florida—South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated. Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5. BE CAREFUL! GOD BLESS EVERYONE!" Trump tweeted on Sunday, although Alabama was never in the list of states under the threat of Dorian.
Twenty minutes after Trump's tweet, the Birmingham, Alabama, branch of the National Weather Service refuted his statement. "Alabama will NOT see any impacts from #Dorian. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane #Dorian will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east," the agency stated.
Despite the backlash and political pundits questioning his understanding of geography, Trump doubled down on his notion of Alabama lying in the direct path of Dorian.
"Such a phony hurricane report by lightweight reporter @jonkarl of @ABCWorldNews. I suggested yesterday at FEMA that, along with Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, even Alabama could possibly come into play, which WAS true. They made a big deal about this when, in fact, under certain original scenarios, it was, in fact, correct that Alabama could have received some “hurt.” Always good to be prepared! But the Fake News is only interested in demeaning and belittling. Didn’t play my whole sentence or statement. Bad people!" he wrote on Twitter, Monday.