Well, I never thought I would be writing a post that was complimentary about Piers Morgan after the anti-Second Amendment crusade he waged on CNN, but he did call out members of the Labour Party for what appears to be gross hypocrisy concerning the outrage over Queen Elizabeth II extending a state visit invitation to President Donald Trump. Granted, he also wrote that he disagreed with Trump's order as well.
A petition to cancel the state visit soared past a million signatures and Cortney noted that Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow is strongly opposed to having the president of the United States speak at Westminster due to his political positions. The whole affair has devolved into a heated debate in the House of Commons, with many left wing members of parliament equating Trump to fascist dictators of the 1930s. President Trump’s executive order on immigration that involved a temporary moratorium on residents traveling to the U.S. from several predominantly Muslim countries only further angered the Left (via CNN):
The anti-Trump protests outside Downing Street were lively and vocal. The chants ranged from the expletive-ridden to the direct: "No State Visit!" was a popular one.The demonstration was part of a fierce backlash in the UK to the announcement last week by Prime Minister Theresa May that US President Donald Trump had accepted an invitation conveyed from the Queen for a state visit later this year.
The number of signatories on a petition calling for Trump's state visit to be cancelled has soared past 1.7 million -- and the issue will now be debated in Parliament. Among those to have signed it are Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour party, and Ruth Davidson, the leader of May's Conservative party in Scotland.
[…]
…the respected former head of the Foreign Office, Peter Ricketts, said May had put The Queen in a "very difficult position" and should protect her by downgrading Trump's invitation to an "official visit". Such a trip would be shorn of the ceremonial hoop-la that The President is currently expecting, involving only talks with the Prime Minister and a low-profile courtesy call on the monarch.
[Prime Minister Theresa] May is in a precarious position. If she bows to pressure and downgrades the trip she risks more than losing face: it could cost her a crucial trade deal she's been working on with President Trump.
In January, Labour Shadow Attorney General Shami Chakrabarti appeared on Good Morning Britain, where Morgan serves as a co-host and asked her where was the outrage when nations with established human rights abuses had the red carpet rolled out for them. Where were you people then? Why did history only begin when Donald J. Trump took the oath of office on January 20, 2017?
Morgan highlighted the hypocrisy Chakrabarti and other lefties were exhibiting over this state visit business, noting that the UK had rolled out the red carpet for nations that have banned Israelis from entering their country, or anyone who an Israeli stamp on their passport. She said that those past visits bothered her and touted her consistency on human rights issues, but also said that this was an opportunity to use soft power to exert influence in this “so-called special relationship” between the U.S. and the UK–to stand up for their values.
She then called the president a misogynist, a racist, and someone who is making the world less safe. She feels the state visit invitation is premature, and that “you get the red carpet if you share British values.”
That’s when Morgan listed Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, China, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Ghana as past recipients of state visits.
“Did China share all our values?” asked Morgan.
Kuwait bans Israelis, which is racist.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) February 6, 2017
Here's Speaker John 'No racists' Bercow welcoming the Emir of Kuwait to Parliament... pic.twitter.com/zIL5rizdcJ
I often criticise Trump myself.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) February 6, 2017
But I find the hysterical calls to ban him absurd & rankly hypocritical. https://t.co/npQFPQ63LW
Morgan’s Daily Mail colleague consultant editor Andrew Pierce took a more measured approached, noting that the paper described Trump’s order as “crude, complicated, and in places illogical”—but they support Trump coming for a state visit. Pierce also said what better place would there to be to exert influence than when President Trump has an audience with Queen Elizabeth II, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, and Prime Minister May. Moreover, far worse characters have been offered a state visit, like Romanian President Nicolae Ceau?escu—a man who was eventually executed by his own people. Pierce added that the queen hid with her dogs because she didn’t’ want to be near him. He also said that former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was invited for a state visit (twice), despite murdering tens of thousands of his own people. Morgan added that Vladimir Putin, who has made reestablishing sociopolitical control in Eastern Europe has his pet project for the past decade, was given a state visit.
Pierce added that we shouldn’t be shocked that Mr. Trump issued this executive order, and that, as we have noted here, the seven countries in his directive were selected by the Obama administration as countries of concern.
Chakrabarti interjected by saying those several countries are also the ones where Trump doesn’t have business interests, a typical liberal talking point against the order. Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt are nations that the U.S. has long-standing political and economic ties. That’s well known. Moreover, the several nations mentioned are either failed states, or inching closer to that designation, and three have been pegged as state sponsors of terror. How does one vet people from failed states? Also, it’s not a Muslim ban. Yazidi Christians from Iraq are also included in the travel moratorium. Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, is not included in the ban.
Yet, we’re talking about liberal hypocrisy in the UK over their push to stop Trump’s state visit. Past invitations to less savory nations were probably met with some opposition, but was never this intense prior to the 2016 election. It’s because these people hate Trump—and Morgan shows that perfectly with this segment.