The historic European cities of London and Paris have changed beyond all recognition following years of open borders, former U.S. President Donald Trump has said.
Speaking on the campaign trail in Wisconsin on Wednesday, the Republican presidential candidate warned of the dangers of mass immigration and the resulting rapid demographic change, and said he didn’t want the United States to suffer the same fate.
“We’ve seen what happened when Europe opened its doors to jihad,” Trump told the conservative crowd.
“Look at Paris. Look at London. They’re no longer recognizable,” he claimed.
“And I’m going to get myself into a lot of trouble with the folks in Paris and the folks in London, but you know what? That’s the fact.”
Trump, the current favorite to retake the White House on Nov. 5, lamented the demise of Europe’s culture and tradition before adding, “We can never let that happen here. I’ll never let it happen to the United States of America.”
The former U.S. president has long been vocal about the state of liberal-run European cities, infamously describing Brussels, the de facto EU capital, as a “hell hole.”
“You go to Brussels, I was in Brussels a long time ago, 20 years ago, so beautiful, and everything was so beautiful. It’s like living in a hell hole right now,” Trump told Fox Business Network back in 2016, infuriating European Union officials.
Brussels now features a 62 percent non-EU population, meaning Belgians and even Europeans as a whole are in the minority.
During Thursday’s mayoral election, London Mayor Sadiq Khan hit back at Trump’s remarks, using them to urge his support base to get out and vote.
“Today is an opportunity to show Donald Trump and my Tory opponent that London will always choose hope over fear and unity over division,” he said.
