...to think surely nobody will vote Donald Trump now?

[QuizteamBleakley]

Donald Trump thinks there should be a ban on all Muslims entering the U.S.

Beeb news here.

I think there is a school of thought that the principle of free speech is eventually self moderating, and he'll huff and puff and blow his own house down eventually.

The trouble is more how big his house is and who is in it at the point of collapse.

I can think of lots of places were basic intelligence and knowledge are not as important as hot air through all social strata unfortunately.

Even though he is a US candidate for the president I do think it has ramifications in this country with the ripples he's causing. The petition now has caused a situation where the debate has firmly landed on our shores - whatever is decided from here on in, from whether we have a parliamentary debate, to whether we eventually ban him is important. Politicians are now unable to just ignore it as a US problem and whatever they do will be viewed in some quarters as interfering with the presidential campaign. They are kind of damned if they do and damned if they don't.

Personally I think its good we have some sort of public debate on this now, as it does set up a limitation of what we as a nation view as unacceptable in terms of Islamaphobia. It would be helpful if the debate also covered some of the things that the press are saying which are no less inflammatory or fictional than what Mr Trump is spouting. If only to not fuel Mr Trump's Megalomania as much as we could.

Last I heard, Ben Carson was challenging Trump in the polls.

Is he still? or has he plummeted in recent weeks, as I assumed he (and Trump) would eventually?

Carson has dropped considerably in the past few weeks. He is in 4th place after Trump, Cruz and Rubio.

'Trump names Cruz when asked about VP spot'

thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/260492-trump-names-cruz-when-asked-about-vp-spot

Cruz is climbing but is disliked by all of the Republican political Establishment it seems, so he is an outsider but with some big money backers. Cruz is the only big Republican who has not attacked Trump, all he has dared to do is to say "I disagree with Trump". Trump says he will hit him if he has to, but so far Cruz has not dared go after Trump. If Cruz is nice to Trump, there is talk that Trump may possibly go for Cruz as Vice President, but others are saying that Cruz is biding his time and will have to attack Trump later on for the sake of the big money donors.

I think Trump really does intend to go all the way and the contest will get very dirty if you listen to what former Trump aide, Roger Stone, has got on the other main candidates like the Clintons and Bishes. Stone also says that Obama can't stand Clinton and does not want her to win. Stone says Bernie Sanders doesn't stand a chance because America will never vote for a socialist with 85% taxation etc, so he thinks that another Democrat will pop up as candidate. Stone says Biden would never have won as he has not got much support.

It is going to one hell of an election and the outcome will change the entire world. Politicians across the entire world will have to play ball if Trump gets in. They will change their tune so fast it will be amazing.

No one here would dare ban Trump, it won't happen.

Almost 200,000 UK citizens and/or residents have voted to ban him in a day or so of voting. Including me.

Whether he's actually banned or not, the message is clear: the UK does not really welcome racist sexist bigmouths

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/114003

Please excuse me, another 5,000 joined whilst I was typing.

Do add your name if you feel like it

the UK does not really welcome racist sexist bigmouths
It does when they are Saudi

Jeremy Clarkson is quite popular, I have been told

Y talkin, interesting isn't it!

yes he is abominable but we have welcomed far worse.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3256642/If-safe-place-Tony-Blair-s-astonishing-phonecall-Colonel-Gaddafi-net-closed-Libyan-dictator-revealed.html

Blair to Gaddafi " if you have a safe place to go - go there" I would put a shocked face here, but its not really shocking.

Good point Talkin

Tony Blair...also bannable

Happy to sign all the ban-thesexist-racists petitions you can get your hands on for me, talkinpeace what with two wrongs never making a right and all that.

Not having to see Jeremy Clarkson on a regular basis is one of the many joys of expat life for me

Almost 230,000 votes on the petition now. 25,000 in the last hour. Wow.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/114003

Yup, lots of people can click a link.
Whooppee doos
it will not make the blindest bit of difference to anything

I've yet to see any e petition achieve anything tangible at all
marches and demonstrations are not much better

Ben Carson is not better. Cruz is not better. Honestly, compared to Trump & most of those clowns, Jeb Bush is a paragon of sane moderation.

what I find interesting is the general public revulsion of this man.
e peitions started up, loads of stuff popping up on media etc news, radio, forums, papers, everyone is alight and out raged at his comments, and rightly so!

Its very obvious, and very present everywhere.
We think the way he is addressing and talking about and to Muslims is awful.

Yet he is nothing to do with me, we share little else, bar humanity, I am hardly Christian, I am not American, but I don't like what he says and I feel the need to assuage the Muslim community and sort of be part of the body that says - its not right to speak about you like this. Don't worry he is a nutter sort of thing.

He has a simple message. He wants to make America great again. It's a message which will resonate with a lot of people. Does no one remember Ronald Reagan? That's what he was saying as well. I'm apolitical. I just look on with interest.

Trump drove several companies to bankruptcy. Doesn't sound too great to me.

The petition is stupid. Trump is a horrible arse but banning him is idiotic when far more hateful dangerous lowlifes like Anjem Choudhary have been allowed air their poison on the BBC and Channel 4 news in recent years. Such hypocrisy.

(Derxa, just this morning my mum was talking about how everyone laughed at Reagan's presidency bid...scary stuff)

'banning him is idiotic when far more hateful dangerous lowlifes like Anjem Choudhary have been allowed air their poison on the BBC and Channel 4 news in recent years. Such hypocrisy.'

Brilliant point, shins.

'everyone laughed at Reagan's presidency bid'

But Reagan ended up being a brilliant President, who ended the Cold War and changed the world. He was one of the best. Trump sees himself as being in Reagan's mould. Reagan was once a Democrat and so was Trump. Trump does not represent the Republican Establishment which is why they are all dead set against him. If Trump makes it, everything will change and the Establishment don't like it which is why they are desperate to stop him.

he will not seriously be banned. The petition is just an expression of irritation by British people with one of the world's leading twats. You don't have to be a member of any elite to be an antifascist.

Personally, I don't see Reagan as having been great, even before he unfortunately collapsed into dementia and was just wheeled out as a puppet to deliver his scripts. He was lucky to be around when the Soviet Union collapsed, and many of us had great hopes for the resurgence of a free East. Obama is unlucky to be around now that Putin is rebuilding the Russian Empire.

Agree with everything you just said PigletJohn.

Spot.on.

LOL, the UK is teeming with racist, sexist bigmouths. We had one standing for parliament quite recently, in N Farage. Though admittedly not quite as obnoxious, oafish and idiotic.

The petition is a good comedy stunt. Poor show if we really intend to ban people for having obnoxious views. We have argument, debate, reason to bolster up our belief in free speech, and if we don't believe in free speech for racist sexist bigmouths we don't believe in free speech at all.

Incitement is a different matter.