'Donald Trump' emails British MP asking for money - receives 'warm hope' his 'repugnant' campaign will fail
Glasgow East MP Natalie McGarry also finds it extraordinary that the anti-immigration US billionaire appears to be approaching foreign nationals with his 'beggging bowl'
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Your support makes all the difference.Billionaire Donald Trump appears to have asked a British MP for money for his American Presidential campaign – and got a stinging rebuke in return.
Glasgow East MP Natalie McGarry was amazed to receive an email apparently from Trump’s son mentioning an earlier message from his dad, accusing “Crooked Hillary” of “fraud and lies” and asking: “Please donate right now to help my father Make America Great Again.”
So she emailed back to say she would not be donating to Make America Great Again but would instead be sending her “warm hope” that Mr Trump’s “repugnant campaign” failed. Then she published both emails on Twitter for the enjoyment of her 16,000 followers.
In her email, addressed to Trump’s 38-year-old son Donald J Trump Jr, Ms McGarry wrote: “Quite why you think it appropriate to write emails to UK parliamentarians with a begging bowl for your father’s repugnant campaign is beyond me.
“Given his rhetoric on migrants, refugees and immigration, it seems quite extraordinary that he would be asking foreign nationals for money; especially people who view his dangerous divisiveness with horror.
“The US elections are a matter for the American people, but I do send my warm hope that they reject your father fundamentally at the ballot box, not just to protect and improve the cohesion in society, to stop his corrosive othering of immigrants and for the protection of hard fought women’s rights in the US, but also, selfishly, for world security and international relations.
“The thought of his reactionary type of politics and apparent ignorance of world affairs having access to a seat at the world table is both surreal and terrifying.”
In case “Donald J Trump Jr” hadn’t got the message, Ms McGarry, a former SNP MP who now sits as an independent, explained: “The above is a long way to say NO, and do not contact me again.”
It remains unclear whether the “Trump” email was real or fake. Although Ms McGarry thought it was genuine, some Twitter users have suggested it could have been just spam sent by someone pretending to be from the Trump family.
Other MPs have certainly received similar emails – because on Tuesday the Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale raised a point of order about them in the House of Commons.
Complaining to Commons Speaker John Bercow, Sir Roger said: “Members of Parliament are being bombarded with electronic communications from Team Trump on behalf of somebody called Donald Trump.
“I am all in favour of free speech, but I do not see why colleagues on either side of the House should be subjected to intemperate spam.
“Efforts to have them deleted have failed. Would you be kind enough to intercede with the Parliamentary Digital Service to see if they might be blocked?”
A sympathetic Mr Bercow replied: “May I commiserate with the honourable Gentleman who, as far as I can tell, has undergone an irritating and—some might think—exceptionally tedious experience? I am grateful to him for notice of his point of order.
“I do not think it acceptable that Members should be bombarded with emails the content of which is offensive. I will ensure that members of the Parliamentary Digital Service, who have the facility to block certain types of email, are made aware of this issue.”
It is not thought that any British MPs have donated to Mr Trump to help him “Make America Great Again.”
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