Friday will mark a Cinco de Mayo celebration for many Americans, but for fans of Michael Savage, the fifth of May is the anniversary of a darker event — the banning of Savage from the United Kingdom.
On the eighth year of Savage’s ban from Britain, World Net Daily has launched a petition calling on President Trump to demand Britain remove Michael Savage from its travel ban list. The petition reads in part:
Therefore, we hereby add our names to this petition calling on President Donald J. Trump and his State Department to demand of the British government that it remove Michael Savage from its travel ban.
It is outrageous that a Western nation would ban a popular American commentator with millions of listeners and several New York Times bestselling books to “balance” its list, apparently fearing it would be accused of being biased against Muslims.
Michael Savage has never advocated violence, and his political views are protected by the First Amendment, which is rooted in the civil-rights tradition that began with Britain’s Magna Carta.
According to World Net Daily’s announcement of the petition, the ban made no sense in 2009 and still doesn’t eight years later. WND alleges that Savage’s ban was a gesture made to “balance” a list dominated by Muslim extremists. Comparing Michael Savage to other members of the Home Office list makes the sharp divide clear. Take for example Wagdy Abd el-Hamied Mohamed Ghoneim, who refers to Osama Bin Laden as a “martyr hero mujahid” and denounces western intervention against ISIS as a “crusade.” That’s a far cry from the the content of Michael Savage’s daily radio show and best-selling books.
Savage believes Donald Trump will be sympathetic to his case; after all, a petition was signed to ban Trump himself from entering the United Kingdom. Other conservatives and opponents of Islamic extremism, including Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer are also subject to entry refusals, but Savage is specifically named as part of the notorious group of 16 people publically released in May 5, 2009.
The UK might see things differently now as well. A lot has changed in the last eight years — the famous bust of Winston Churchill has been restored to the Oval Office, and the British people voted to leave the European Union. The news cycle from England is dominated by terror attacks and terror arrests on a “near daily basis” which must leave the average Brit receptive to Savage’s message of “borders, language, and culture.”
Geert Wilders, who was temporarily banned from the United Kingdom, was published by Breitbart News on the subject of travel bans. His view is that the United Kingdom must be willing to face facts even if it doesn’t want to hear them, instead of hiding behinds excuses like “preserving community harmony,” as in his case. He quotes Ronald Reagan, speaking to the British Parliament in 1982, as saying “if history teaches anything, it teaches self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly.” This is a sentiment that both Michael Savage and President Donald Trump would strongly endorse.
Read the petition in full here, and sign it if you agree that Michael Savage should no longer be banned from Britain.
Colin Madine is a contributor and editor at Breitbart News and can be reached at cmadine@breitbart.com
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