Nerd Church - What the London Mayor and the Goblin King Both Know About Trump’s Power

Thank you, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, for being an example of the good and the strong in this country.

Image Courtesy of Katy Blackwood via Wikimedia Commons

Thank you for dismissing Trump as the little boy that he is.

Thank you for showing such dignity in such difficult circumstances.

Thank you for standing strong in the face of bigotry.

There's a scene at the end of the film Labyrinth (spoilers ahead!) - and yes, this is going somewhere - where Sarah faces down the Goblin King, Jareth.

Jareth, played by a blazingly hot David Bowie in some very, very, tight trousers, promises Sarah the world and his kingdom - if she'll just let him be her ruler.

Sarah, keen to retrieve her baby brother, Toby, refuses him and starts an incantation from her children's book to defeat him. 

(Yes, this is a very odd film, but the screenwriter was Terry Jones from Monty Python, so it was hardly going to be normal.)

The incantation is long-winded, and she struggles to remember the last line - the most important - until, with music crescendo-ing, she says, calmly:

"You have no power over me!"

- and with that epiphany, the spell is broken.

(Warning: some flashing images)

That's what Sadiq Khan has done.

He has turned to Trump (who is far from the tempting dish Bowie presents, after all,) and dismissed his tantrums.

Khan has said, calmly, "You have no power over me!"*

(See? I told you this was going somewhere!)




*Well, technically, he refused to 'rise to beastly comments' - but same diff.

Khan, London's first BAME (Black And Minority Ethnic,) mayor, a British Muslim of Pakistani parentage, is the face of everything Trump can't stand.

Khan symbolises tolerance. He symbolises the diversity of the modern West. And he symbolises the success of Muslim and BAME (or PoC) people within that.

Sadiq Khan symbolises a world where you don't have to be a white allocishet able-bodied male to succeed. And that terrifies Trump.

It terrifies Trump for the same reason that Angela Merkel and Barack Obama terrify Trump: they are a glimpse into a future where people like him aren't automatically on top.

A future where, to succeed, Trump would actually have to be competent, and probably a decent person, too.

And Trump is neither of those things.

So he views anyone who has actual skill and talent suspiciously - especially if they come from a different background to him (which is most people on this planet, tbh.)

Sadiq Khan does not fear Trump, and neither does he court his favour.

In Trump's self-centred world-view, that's damn near impossible.

Add to that Sadiq Khan's ethnicity, religion, heritage, and popularity, and you begin to see why Trump singles him out so much. 

Just as Jareth fears Sarah's words, and pleads for her to stop, Trump fears Khan's calm replies.

Donald Trump is afraid of Sadiq Khan.

Because he has no power over him.

And yes, it's certainly easier for the Mayor of London to speak against Trump than it is for a lot of people who actually live in the US and don't have the protection of that level of office.

But that's kind of why it's so important for people like Sadiq Khan to speak out.

He has the authority, the platform, and the protection.

If other public figures could do the same - and could do so in a way which, like Khan, seems to so utterly confound Trump - we may yet be able to curtail some of Trump's power and his more harmful policies (of which there seem to be a lot.)

The only way to defeat the powerful is to show them how powerless they really are.

Do you feel like Sadiq Khan is handling things well, or should he be more aggressive in the words he uses? Should other politicians and public figures follow his example? Talk to me! 😇💬

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Previous Nerd Church posts:

• Nerd Church - Don't Get Distracted By Shiny Balls

• Nerd Church - Spread a Little Love

Last updated: 20th July 2018