Timeline: Donald Trump’s feud with Sadiq Khan

The US president has again launched a Twitter attack on the mayor of London

Donald Trump’s feud with Sadiq Khan dates back to 2015 when they were both fighting election campaigns. It intensified after the terrorist attacks on London in 2017 and now threatens to overshadow the president’s state visit to the UK.

10 December 2015

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign pledge to ban Muslims from the US was criticised as “outrageous” by Sadiq Khan when he was standing to be mayor of London. He told the BBC that he hoped Trump “loses badly”.

10 May 2016

After Khan was elected as mayor of London, Trump suggested Khan would be exempt from his proposed travel ban on Muslims. “There will always be exceptions,” he said and added that the election of Khan was a “good thing”.

16 May 2016

Khan said Trump’s views on Muslims were “ignorant”. Trump then challenged Khan to an IQ test. “I will remember those statements. They are very nasty statements,” he told ITV.

4 June 2017

After the terrorist attacks on Borough Market and London Bridge, Trump falsely suggested in a tweet that Khan had said there was “no reason to be alarmed”.

At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is "no reason to be alarmed!"

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2017

Khan had actually said the public should not be alarmed by the increased police presence on London’s streets.

A spokesman for Khan responded by saying he had “more important things to do than respond to Donald Trump’s ill-informed tweet that deliberately takes out of context his remarks”.

Trump followed up with another tweet, saying this was a “pathetic excuse” that the mainstream media was “working hard to sell”.

Pathetic excuse by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who had to think fast on his "no reason to be alarmed" statement. MSM is working hard to sell it!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017

6 June 2017

Khan called on the government to cancel Trump’s state visit to the UK. “I don’t think we should roll out the red carpet to the president of the USA in the circumstances where his policies go against everything we stand for,” he said.

29 July 2017

Khan told the Guardian he was a “reluctant participant” in his ongoing row with Trump. He said: “We’re not schoolchildren. He’s the president of the United States, so I’m unclear what his beef is with me.”

5 July 2018

Khan’s office gave permission for anti-Trump activists to fly a protest blimp of Trump as a crying baby in a nappy.

Later, free speech campaigners made a blimp of Khan wearing a yellow bikini in protest at “body-shaming” adverts the mayor vowed to ban on the London Underground.

13 July 2018

On his working visit to London, Trump claimed Khan had “done a very bad job on terrorism”. He added: “I think he has done a bad job on crime, if you look, all of the horrible things going on there, with all of the crime that is being brought in.”

1 June 2019

Khan compared the language used by Trump to rally his supporters to that of “the fascists of the 20th century”. Writing in the Observer he said:

“President Donald Trump is just one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat. The far right is on the rise around the world, threatening our hard-won rights and freedoms and the values that have defined our liberal, democratic societies for more than 70 years.”

2 June 2019

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Trump compared Khan to the New York mayor, Bill de Blasio, and said he had no plans to meet him during his state visit to London. Trump said: “I don’t think much of him. I think that he’s the twin of De Blasio, except shorter.”

3 June 2019

Just before landing in the UK, Trump described Khan as “a stone cold loser” and “very dumb”.

....Kahn reminds me very much of our very dumb and incompetent Mayor of NYC, de Blasio, who has also done a terrible job - only half his height. In any event, I look forward to being a great friend to the United Kingdom, and am looking very much forward to my visit. Landing now!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2019

Khan’s office accused Trump of “childish insults” .

15 June 2019

After three people were killed in London in the space of 24 hours, Trump retweeted a tweet from right-wing commentator Katie Hopkins and said that the UK capital needed a new mayor and that Khan was “a disaster”.

LONDON needs a new mayor ASAP. Khan is a disaster - will only get worse! https://t.co/n7qKI3BbD2

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2019

Several hours later he tweeted again, saying that Khan was ‘destroying the City of London.”

He is a national disgrace who is destroying the City of London! https://t.co/l3qcUS17jh

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2019

A spokesman for the mayor said that Khan’s thoughts were “with the victims’ families. He is not going to waste his time responding to this sort of tweet.”

Contributor

Matthew Weaver

The GuardianTramp

Related Content

Article image
Sadiq Khan and Anne Hidalgo rebuke Donald Trump over Muslim ban
‘Mr Trump is so stupid,’ says Paris mayor on visit to meet new London counterpart

Ben Quinn

10, May, 2016 @9:20 PM

Article image
Donald Trump is like a 20th-century fascist, says Sadiq Khan
London mayor hits out at US president before his state visit to Britain

Toby Helm and Mark Townsend

01, Jun, 2019 @10:57 PM

Article image
Jeremy Hunt defends Donald Trump's attack on Sadiq Khan
Foreign secretary says he agrees 150% with sentiment of tweet quoting Katie Hopkins

Peter Walker Political correspondent

17, Jun, 2019 @2:03 PM

Article image
Sadiq Khan: I don't want exemption from 'ignorant' Trump's Muslim ban
London mayor says presidential hopeful’s policy to ban Muslims from entering the US ‘isn’t just about me’

Jessica Elgot

10, May, 2016 @9:25 AM

Article image
Donald Trump in new attack on Sadiq Khan with Katie Hopkins retweet
US president refers to message about Met police twitter account, calling London mayor ‘incompetent’

Mark Townsend

20, Jul, 2019 @12:47 PM

Article image
Sadiq Khan balloon takes flight in London
Inflatable makes debut in protest against crime and in response to ‘Baby Trump’

Alexandra Heal

01, Sep, 2018 @11:13 AM

Article image
Boris Johnson attacks Labour in row over Donald Trump's cancelled visit
No 10 backs foreign secretary in saying Labour leader and London mayor are putting US-UK relations at risk after embassy trip called off

Peter Walker and Heather Stewart

12, Jan, 2018 @6:54 PM

Article image
Rise of Donald Trump is ‘obscuring lessons of the second world war’, says Sadiq Khan
Mayor of London condemns US president as ‘poster boy for white nationalism’ and Boris Johnson as ‘ever more rightwing’

Sadiq Khan: Lessons of the second world war are at risk of being forgotten, or even rewritten

Toby Helm Observer political editor

31, Aug, 2019 @6:36 PM

Article image
Sadiq Khan says Tories' 'Donald Trump approach' won't work in London
Labour candidate for mayor condemns rival Zac Goldsmith and Conservatives for using ‘politics of division and fear’

Peter Walker

25, Apr, 2016 @10:29 AM

Article image
Film-makers alienated by Trump are welcome in London – Sadiq Khan
London mayor describes plans for British capital to become the ‘world’s most film-friendly city’

Hannah Ellis-Petersen

31, Jan, 2017 @3:24 PM