Anti-racism campaigners urge First Minister to retract comments defending Donald Trump

Welsh anti-racism campaigners have signed an open letter to Eluned Morgan, calling on her to retract comments made in November where she claimed that Donald Trump was not a racist.

The signatories include representatives from Stand Up To Racism, Black Lives Matter, Muslim Association of Britain, Muslim Engagement & Development (MEND), and Plaid Cymru MS Sioned Williams and Wales Green Party leader Anthony Slaughter, as well as Welsh trade union leaders, academics, refugee, peace, faith and community groups.

The letter, published ahead of Trump’s presidential inauguration on Monday in Washington, follows remarks made by the First Minister during a BBC radio phone-in with presenter Nicky Campbell on 6 November 2024, where she answered a question about whether Trump was a racist by saying, “I shouldn’t think he is, to be honest. There were a hell of a lot of black people and Latinos who voted for him in the election.”

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Reckless

Hussein Said, Chair of Stand Up To Racism Cardiff, said: "Eluned Morgan's comments are reckless, especially when we are witnessing the sharp rise of Reform UK here in Wales. It is very clear that Farage sees Trump's victory as a road map to his victory here in the UK.

To dismiss the racism of Trump is to ignore the very real ways in which he emboldens far right and fascist figures here in the UK. As Trump and Reform UK gain positions of power we must not concede on our stance against their politics being seen as legitimate.

"The Islamophobia and anti-migrant rhetoric they use should never be seen as legitimate within our society. We must call it out wherever we see it, no matter the position within society they have."

The letter, signed by nearly 100 campaigners and organisations, states: “We condemn Eluned Morgan’s recent defence of Donald Trump. To claim that Trump is not a racist is to ignore the currents of cruelty and violence that surge through his rhetoric, aimed squarely at the most vulnerable. His relentless vilification of immigrants during recent U.S. elections reaches into a dark, historical well of xenophobia and fear-mongering."

The letter goes on to detail Trump’s use of inflammatory language, his policies such as the Muslim travel ban and mass deportation plans, and the ideological underpinnings of his presidency, which the signatories argue are antithetical to democracy and human rights.

The signatories are demanding that the First Minister retract her comments, issue an apology, and aligns herself with Wales’s anti-racist communities.