London Mayor Sadiq Khan amped up his criticism of President Donald Trump on Wednesday, calling him “racist,” “sexist,” “misogynistic,” and Islamophobic” in response to the president’s comments at the United Nations General Assembly.
Trump called Khan a “terrible mayor” during his address before the U.N. on Tuesday, suggesting that London “wants to go to Sharia law.” Trump’s comments came just after he returned home from a state visit to the United Kingdom.
The feud between the two leaders, who have vastly different political views, dates back to Trump’s first presidential candidacy in 2016. Khan has consistently criticized Trump’s comments on Islam and stood against Trump’s first-term travel ban on muslim-majority countries.
Khan, London’s first Muslim mayor, responded to Trump’s U.N. comments in an interview with London reporters on Tuesday, saying “when people behave in a certain way, you’ve got to believe them.”
“I think President Trump has shown he is racist, he is sexist, he is misogynistic, and he is Islamophobic,” Khan said.
Trump focused on mass migration to Europe in his U.N. speech, zeroing in on London and calling out Khan.
“I look at London, where you have a terrible mayor, a terrible, terrible mayor, and it’s been so changed, so changed,” Trump said. “Now they want to go to Sharia law, but you’re in a different country, you can’t do that.”
Sharia law, the religious laws of Islam, serves as the foundation of the code in countries such as Afghanistan and Iran. Khan has never called for Sharia law to be implemented in London. However, Sharia councils have existed in the U.K. in advisory roles since the 1980s. They have “no official legal or constitutional role in the UK” and mainly exist to rule in divorces, according to a House of Commons briefing.
“We are not going to dignify his appalling and bigoted comments with a response,” a spokesperson for Khan’s office told the London Standard.
Khan told reporters on Tuesday that “record numbers of Americans” are moving to London and that he is “living rent free” inside Trump’s mind.
“I think people are wondering what it is about this Muslim mayor who leads a liberal, multicultural, progressive, successful city that means I appear to be living rent free inside Donald Trump’s head,” Khan said.
TRUMP TELLS EUROPE IT’S BEING RUINED BY MASS MIGRATION: ‘YOUR COUNTRIES ARE GOING TO HELL’
Trump’s comments came in the larger context of his argument on mass migration to Europe. Around one-third of the U.K. foreign-born population is centered in London.
“Both the immigration and their suicidal energy ideas will be the death of Western Europe if something is not done immediately. This cannot be sustained,” Trump said.
