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Source: Wikimedia
President Donald Trump’s latest travel ban conveniently does not prohibit travel from countries where his struggling’resorts are located.
During his Oval Office address on Wednesday evening, President Trump announced a thirty-day suspension of travel from Europe to the U.S. with one noteworthy exception: there is no restriction on travel to and from the United Kingdom.
Here’s the real story of why he made that exception.
Source: Flickr / Chatham House
Politico reports that the UK is currently reporting 460 confirmed cases of COVID19. One of those cases includes Nadine Dorris the health minister in charge of patient safety.
This raises the question of why a country with more diagnoses than several of the banned EU countries would be exempted from the travel restrictions.
Source: Screenshot/YouTube
The answer to those questions may be that Trump owns two properties in the UK and another in Ireland. Equally important, as Politico notes, “All three of the resorts are struggling financially.”
Trump Turnberry and Trump International Golf Links are in the UK, and the Trump-branded resort Doonbeg is in Ireland.
Source: Flickr/Gage Skidmore
These Trump resorts have already been under scrutiny.
An internal investigation was opened regarding Trump potentially profiting from multiple Air Force personnel visits to his Turnberry resort.
Then there was Vice President Pence’s staying at Trump’s Doonbeg hotel despite the distance from his scheduled meetings.
Now, by exempting the UK from his ban, Trump ensures potential visitors to his properties are able to travel freely.
Source: Flickr/Gage Skidmore
After announcing the new travel restrictions, Trump placed the blame for the spread of COVID19 on the failure of European leaders to ban travel.
EU leaders responded with a statement disapproving of Trump’s decision to impose the ban without consultation. They called for global cooperation, and defended their own countries’ actions “to limit the spread of the virus.”
Source: Canva
Experts have already said the ban on European travel won’t have much of an effect because the coronavirus has already begun to spread across the United State.
Besides, residents of the banned countries who work in the UK could also travel to the U.S. from a British port.
Why is the UK exempt from this #COVID19 temporary travel ban? Can’t travelers just go through Heathrow? Confused… 🤔
— Christina Farr (@chrissyfarr) March 12, 2020
Source: Wikimedia
President Trump also went ahead with a scheduled meeting with Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.
Varadkar met with Trump at the White House on Thursday, despite the coronavirus risk. Instead of shaking hands, however, they used a “Namaste” greeting. It was probably a smart move on the Prime Minister’s part because Trump was likely exposed to the virus in a recent meeting with Brazilian President Bolsonaro.
Source: Pixabay
As the confirmed cases in the UK continue to rise, it leaves many questioning the soundness of the President’s decision.
Yet UK is exempt from the travel ban. Why? https://t.co/xEKzF6ZVJq
— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) March 12, 2020
