Labour activist Aisha Ali Khan and GB News host Nana Akua have clashed over London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s warnings about “resurgent fascism” ahead of Donald Trump’s second inauguration as US President.
The heated exchange followed the London Mayor’s stark warning yesterday about a “century-defining battle against a resurgent far-right” across the developed world.
In his Observer article, Khan called for ministers to confront extremism as “hard-right figures” gather for Trump’s upcoming inauguration.
The debate between Khan and Nana centred on the mayor’s characterisation of so-called far-right influences and Trump’s supporters, with both women offering sharply contrasting views on the legitimacy of Khan’s concerns.
Aisha Ali Khan and Nana Akua clashed over Sadiq Khan’s ‘fascism’ claims
GB News
Labour activist Aisha Ali Khan explained the long-running tensions between Trump and the London Mayor date back to 2015.
“You’ve got to understand the relationship between Donald Trump and Sadiq Khan, the spat that they’ve been having, it’s not just a recent thing. It’s been going on since 2015, when Donald Trump still was obviously campaigning and he made comments about imposing a muslim ban in the US,” Ali Khan told GB News.
She highlighted how Khan had experienced “absolutely vile” racist abuse during Trump’s presidency and social media presence.
“He actually felt that with Donald Trump in office and using his platform as president, but also on Twitter and other platforms, he was encouraging racist attacks,” she said.
The London Mayor has warned that western democracy is at risk from ‘resurgent fascism’ ahead of Trump’s inaugurationPA
Ali Khan warned the next four years would be “challenging” given previous experience of Trump’s presidency.
She said: “Obviously going forward, Donald Trump is going to be president again, and the next four years are going to be challenging. We’ve already had a taste of what it was like under his presidency for four years, and we kind of know the kind of people that have supported him, people that are far-right and alt-right.”
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GB News host Nana Akua strongly challenged Ali Khan’s characterisation of Trump supporters.
“No no, you yourself have just said that the people who supported him are far-right. Some of them may be far-right, some of the people may be far-left who are supporting Sadiq Khan,” Nana countered.
She criticised what she called “lazy politicking” in labelling those with different opinions as far-right.
“Donald Trump won the popular vote as well. Ethnic minorities, black, white, women, everybody voted for him, it was a landslide,” Nana argued.
Khan claimed that the Mayor’s attacks on Donald Trump are ‘justified’
GB News
She questioned the broad application of the term “far-right” and challenged Ali Khan’s characterisation of Trump’s support base. Ali Khan defended her position, clarifying her earlier statement about Trump’s support base.
“First of all, I said some some of the support. Some of the supporters that supported Donald Trump and have supported him all along are members of the Alt-Right, the far-right in the US, and they have been emboldened,” she explained.
The exchange grew more heated as they debated the nature of political discourse.
Ali Khan suggested politicians needed to be resilient to criticism, stating: “It’s offensive though, isn’t it? If you’re going to decide if you’re going to enter politics and you’re going to meet people and so on, you cannot be this sensitive.”
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