Mal Fletcher

I'm no apologist for the American President, but why is it necessary to find a racial element in his comments about Sadiq Khan's governance or policies as London's mayor?  

President Trump is likely no-one's idea of a diplomat and his twitter comments about people he perceives to be enemies are invariably tainted by invective or, at the very least, questions about personal character. 

While most major political operators will focus mainly on an opponent's credibility in terms of work performance, Mr Trump often chooses to focus on quite personal issues.  

As a result, even his tweets about an opponent's performance can come across as being personal attacks. 

That said, however, offence is also at times in the eye (or the ear) of the beholder. 

How individual politicians respond or react to the President's missives often says as much as or more about them than their interlocutor. 

Some are so quick to take personal offence that one wonders why they entered politics in the first place.  

This is, after all, a world famous for its rough-and-tumble behaviour in the pursuit of power and in the protection of reputation that supposedly undergirds it. 

The Mayor or London is clearly less than pleased with the ongoing attention he receives from the US head of state. 

Perhaps he should feel flattered that someone who has previously called him a political light weight - or words to that effect - is so obviously taken with him. 

Even if the most recent comments, about knife crime and the misguided notion that Mr Khan has turned the British capital into a violent "Londonistan", are deemed to be quite personal in tone, they're not necessarily racial or religious in intent. 

Why is it necessary for a member of the Labour front-bencher to decry Mr Trump as being ant-Muslim, when his comments are not, on the face of it, either racially or religiously-based? 

Such claims inspire in our society the kind of divisiveness Donald Trump has claimed already exists. 

And let's not forget that baby blimp Mr Khan approved during Mr Trump's state visit. That was quite perjorative and personal, no? 

Let's move beyond responding in kind to attacks we believe to be baseless. 

In so doing, we can lift the tone of public discourse and promote dialogue in the place of divisiveness.

Mal Fletcher (@MalFletcher) is the founder and chairman of 2030Plus. He is a respected keynote speaker, social commentator and social futurist, author and broadcaster based in London.

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