British politicians debate whether to ban Donald Trump from the UK

British politicians debated Monday whether or not to bar Donald Trump from entering the country.

Now, there are many reasons you might think people wouldn’t want Donald Trump to come to where they live, but this particular debate springs from a petition posted on the UK Parliament website and focused on Trump’s many anti-Muslim comments. The petition reads as follows:

The signatories believe Donald J Trump should be banned from UK entry.

The UK has banned entry to many individuals for hate speech. The same principles should apply to everyone who wishes to enter the UK.

If the United Kingdom is to continue applying the ‘unacceptable behaviour’ criteria to those who wish to enter its borders, it must be fairly applied to the rich as well as poor, and the weak as well as powerful.

The petition received nearly 600,000 signatures, far surpassing the 100,000 necessary to trigger a debate in Parliament. Thus, MPs discussed the matter for several hours.

Now, will the British government actually ban Trump from entering the country? Almost certainly not, though MPs of every political persuasion have condemned Trump. Still, other American rabble-rousers, such as talk radio’s Michael Savage and Westboro Baptist Church leader Fred Phelps, have previously been blocked from Britain, so anything is possible.