Australians launch petition to keep Donald Trump Jr. from visiting
Australians are trying to ban Donald Trump Jr from entering the land down under.
A Change.org petition seeking to prevent former President Donald Trump’s eldest son from obtaining an Australian visa has garnered more than 17,500 signatures.
Kris Eriksen, who launched the petition a month ago, wrote that Trump Jr. “is an illegal drug-taking bigoted person who should not be allowed to enter Australia for the purpose of earning himself and possibly his father any ‘Campaign Contributions’.”
“Ban him from this country,” Eriksen added.
The petition was launched ahead of a planned three-city speaking tour by Trump Jr. on the rise of “woke identity politics” and “cancel culture” in Australia from July 9-11.
The tour is organized by Turning Point Australia, an offshoot of the Trump-aligned Turning Point USA nonprofit that promotes conservatism on school campuses.
“I have a huge fanbase in Australia and after speaking with some of them it’s clear the same disease of woke identity politics and cancel culture that’s crippled the U.S. has clearly taken hold there,” he told an Australian news agency.
Signatories to Eriksen’s petition listed a range of reasons for wanting to keep Trump Jr. out.
“We've got enough nut jobs in Australia,” wrote one person.
“Everything this he stands for is the opposite of our egalitarian aspirations. We don’t want to become divided and toxic like the US. Keep him out,” commented another.
“I have a Transgender son, not only am I sick to death of the right wing ideology I also quite frankly fear for my child’s life,” wrote one of the earlier signatories.
While the petition has 17,561 signatures as of Tuesday morning, at least a handful of those signatures came from people who wanted to voice their opposition to it.
“It is you Kris who is bigoted because you do not agree with Trump you want him stopped,” wrote one person in the “reasons for signing” box. “Why are you afraid of someone with another point of view[?]”
Another signer posted that the petition was based on misinformation and “Don Jr has a right just like everyone else does to travel…Better yet this petition breaks change.org rules.”
While most Americans can visit Australia with just a U.S. passport and an approved Electronic Travel Authority (like an e-visa), because Trump Jr. will be conducting a speaking tour, he’d likely have to obtain a temporary work visa.
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