Video of Boris Johnson saying Trump showed 'stupefying ignorance' over past comments about London was broadcast onto Big Ben during the president's visit
- An anti-Brexit protest group launched a series of new campaigns on Monday, broadcasting controversial messages on famous London landmarks during President Donald Trump's first state visit to the United Kingdom.
- On Monday, Led by Donkeys utilized some of London's most prominent buildings to broadcast messages of opposition, including broadcasting video of former British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson making disparaging comments about the US president onto the Big Ben.
- The Trump administration has yet to comment on the protests, among many that the president encountered when he touched down in the UK on Monday.
An anti-Brexit protest group launched a series of new campaigns on Monday, broadcasting controversial messages on famous London landmarks during President Donald Trump's first state visit to the United Kingdom.
The stunts were organized by Led by Donkeys, a group known for its use of signs and billboards to undermine politicians who appear to backtrack on previous policy statements.
On Monday, the group utilized some of London's most prominent buildings to broadcast messages of opposition against the US president.
In one public display, the group broadcast video of former British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson making disparaging comments about Trump onto the Big Ben. The video features a clip from a 2015 interview Johnson gave to the media while he was mayor of London, in which he called out Trump for a "quite stupefying ignorance" and deemed him "unfit" to be president.
The quotes from Johnson came after then-candidate Trump made comments about London in late 2015, as he tried to justify campaign comments about banning Muslims from entering the US. (As president, he instituted a travel ban, the third iteration of which was upheld by the US Supreme Court. It barred travel for several Muslim-majority countries - Syria, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya - along with North Korea and certain travelers from Venezuela.)
Trump recently expressed support for Johnson, who is seeking to replace outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May, saying the politician would make an "excellent" prime minister.
"I like him," Trump told The Sun last week of Johnson. "I have always liked him. I don't know that he is going to be chosen, but I think he is a very good guy, a very talented person."
He also praised Nigel Farage, another pro-Brexit politician vying for May's position.
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"Hey @realDonaldTrump, you just endorsed your Brexit buddy @BorisJohnson but he said some VERY NASTY things about you and he doesn't want you to know," the Led By Donkeys group said in a tweet of their latest installation. "So we projected his words onto Big Ben."
The group also broadcast side-by-side UK approval ratings of President Trump versus former President Barack Obama onto the Tower of London, showing Obama more popular among UK citizens with a 50 percent lead over Trump according to a recent YouGov poll
In another display, the group turned the facade of Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum into a projection of a giant red baseball cap featuring a logo of the USS John McCain, a ship which the White House reportedly requested be hidden from sight during Trump's recent visit to Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, given Trump's fraught relationship with the late Sen. John McCain.
The Trump administration has yet to comment on the protests, among many that the president encountered when he touched down in the UK on Monday.
Trump is currently in London for a three-day visit, which will include visits with members of the British royal family and top British lawmakers. So far, the president has met with Queen Elizabeth II and visited Westminster Abbey, and attended a state banquet that some senior members of Theresa May's government have boycotted.