Trump has seized upon reports that Burnham is considering granting new licences for North Sea drilling – an issue the US President has long been vocal about – but then his comments took a much darker turn
Donald Trump piled more pressure on Andy Burnham to open up the North Sea for oil and gas drilling, before launching into a racist diatribe about the UK.
Trump has seized upon reports that Burnham is considering granting new licences for drilling – an issue the US President has long been vocal about.
Asked for his impressions of the new Prime Minister, Trump said: “He did say one good thing, he said he’s going to open up the North Sea. If he does that, you’re going to be a wealthy country, if he does that reasonably.”
Trump’s desire to see more drilling in the North Sea stems from a decades old feud with the Scottish government, after they approved a wind farm near his Aberdeenshire golf course.
Later in the Oval Office Q&A Trump was asked if he and Burnham had discussed immigration during their phone call last week.
“I did, briefly,” he said. “He’s going to have to mention it because it’s killing your country.”
He then went on to repeatedly describe immigration to the UK as an “invasion”, a narrative that has long been a staple of far right, Neo-nazi propaganda.
He has frequently used language related to the “great replacement”, a conspiracy theory that was once a fringe idea, but is becoming the mainstream view of the Republican Party. It claims white populations and western culture are being deliberately diluted and replaced through migration. This is frequently described in terms of “invasion.”
In the Oval Office, Trump said: “They’re coming from Africa, they’re coming from South America, they’re coming from different parts of Asia, and they’re invading Europe. They’re invading Europe! It’s an invasion. And the UK is a prime suspect.”
Last month during a speech in Normandy to commemorate the anniversary of D-Day, Trump’s ‘Secretary of War’ Pete Hegseth used similar language, comparing migrant boat crossings to the invasion of the Nazis.
“Sadly, today different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies,” he said. “Beaches in Spain, in Italy, in Greece, and Bulgaria, boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late?”
How Trump’s administration flirts with white nationalist imagery and slogans
His administration has long flirted with white supremacist and neo nazi imagery and rhetoric. It started with the Department of Homeland Security, but has spread to several departments – and even the White House itself.
At first glance, this looks like an alarmist – even conspiratorial – thing to suggest. And to begin with, it was all a little ambiguous. In his first term, photos would emerge of members of his administration making the “OK” hand gesture – which was seen by many as code for “White Power”. Then there was the rally on the day of Trump’s inauguration, where Elon Musk stood in front of thousands of his fans and made a gesture which he insisted meant “my heart goes out to you”, but looked to many like something much more sinister. And in his first year since being unexpectedly returned to office, there have been too many dogwhistles, nods, coded signs and outright lifts from the rhetoric of historical racists to discount it.
Last August, the Department for Homeland Security (DHS) Twitter account posted a recruitment tweet for ICE agents. The text read: “Which way, American man?” It accompanied a painting of Uncle Sam at a crossroads, with the different destinations marked as “cultural decline”, “homeland”, “service”, “invasion”, “opportunity” and “law and order”.
The phrase “Which way, American man?” is a pretty clear reference to “Which way, western man”, the title of a 1978 book by neo-Nazi William Gayley Simpson. The book contains passages arguing Hitler was right, and calling for violence against Jews in order to “break their grip” on “the White man’s world”.
In October, the DHS Twitter account posted a tweet that read: “America for Americans. We are asleep no longer.” The phrase has long been linked to what could charitably be referred to as America’s “nativist” movement. From the 1920s it started to be used by white supremacist groups, chiefly, the Ku Klux Klan.
In another ICE recruitment ad posted by DHS, the phrase “We’ll have our home again” appears prominently. The phrase is the title of an anthem, popular among the “Mannerbund”, a white separatist, white nationalist men’s movement. The phrase, and song, has also been used by the Proud Boys and UK based racist group Patriotic Alternative.