If you’re a Briton who believes the U.S. should have remained in the Paris climate accords, should be accepting more refugees, or should be investing more in the United Nations, I can understand why you would protest President Trump.
But having grown up in the U.K. I can attest to the fact that the British far-left, like its European counterparts, is distinctly anti-American. And that when it comes to presidential visits to Britain, many of these protesters aren’t just angry about a particular president, but rather they hate America in general. Every major U.S. state visit to Britain in recent memory has met protests from the far-left. This includes Barack Obama’s 2011 state visit to the U.K.
Still, the best evidence for the fact that anti-Americanism rather than anti-Trumpism is a defining force behind this protest movement is the forensic evidence. Take this photo of the protests on Tuesday. I’ve circled my observation points in blue.
From left-to-right we first see a Stop the War Coalition flag. A fanatically anti-American organization that has likely benefited from Russian intelligence money, the Coalition is very close to current Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and to Bashar Assad’s Syrian dictatorship. Behind and just to the right is another Coalition flag calling on Trump to avoid bombing Iran. While that might seem specific to Trump’s Iran policy, the Coalition always warns of impending acts of U.S. imperialism against other nations. Iran is just the choice of the day.
Next, the pole for a communist flag. Just to the right is another sign calling for “Tories [Conservatives] out” and a general election. What do communism and Tories have to do with Trump?
Let’s continue.
Although it’s hard to see, just below that “Tories Out” sign is another illustration of anti-Americanism: the Palestinian flags (the British far-left regards America and Israel as the enemies of Palestinian human rights).
In the center of the photo are are four signs of note in relative vertical alignment. Starting at the lowest level we see a woman dressed up as Lady Liberty holding a sign that declares “taking liberties.” This is standard fare rejection of the American identity. Next up is an anti-Trump sign, but one with a rallying cry to abandon the special relationship. Above that is a sign from the socialist worker group calling for regime change in Britain. To its right is a sign from that KGB favorite of British far-left groups, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (again, a Corbyn favorite).
The last two signs are as follows. At center right: another Palestinian flag calling for the right of return (which, due to relative Israeli-Palestinian demographics, is a deliberate but veiled cal for Israel’s annihilation), and at far right, another communist emblem.
Okay. Again, don’t get me wrong here. I recognize that a good number of the protesters shown in the image above are likely just anti-Trump. But the photo — as with other photos from protests over the past few days — proves that a good number of anti-Trump protesters in London are also distinctly anti-American.
Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans shouldn’t pretend that these protests are just about Trump.
