Multiple officials in the Australian government recently fact-checked any notion that the decision by Donald Trump Jr. to ostensibly postpone a speaking tour he had scheduled for around Australia was connected to a delay in obtaining the government approvals necessary to enter the country.
In remarks published after an official’s comments by the Daily Mail, Trump Jr. further promoted this concept, insisting there’d been meaningful delays and predictably trying to draw some connection to imagined attempts to suppress conservative voices. Look around at how much we have to hear from you people and tell us again how difficult it is for right-wingers to get their messages out, Donald Jr.
But in the meantime, the Australian Minister for Home Affairs, a woman named Clare O’Neil, wrote as follows on Twitter in posts she eventually took down: “Now he’s trying to blame the Australian government for his poor ticket sales and cancelled tour. Donald Trump Jr has been given a visa to come to Australia. He didn’t get cancelled. He’s just a big baby, who isn’t very popular.”
Trump Jr.’s planned speaking dates in Australia were meant to also involve former U.K. politician Nigel Farage, among others. The former president’s son claims the opposite of O’Neil’s take. “Trump Jr. placed blame for his postponed tour squarely at the feet of government, insisting his visa was not approved in a timely manner,” the Daily Mail recapped.
Another official in the Australian government further insisted, however, that any push for travel papers associated with Donald Jr.’s trek was handled in an entirely routine fashion. “The visa was dealt with in the normal manner. Any issue that Mr. Trump has or his promoters have that go to the postponement of the tour is a matter entirely for them. It may of course be that the reason for the postponement goes to the lack of enthusiasm for ticket sales, rather than any of the issues that they’ve raised,” Andrew Giles, the Australian minister for immigration, said.
It doesn’t seem likely, though, that the Trumps and their allies will give up the narrative of victimhood any time soon. It’s notable how they try and characterize themselves as the valiant defenders of the West or whatever while also so obsessively falling into this insistence that they’re victimized by everything everywhere all the time.
Home affairs minister Clare O’Neil, on Donald Trump Jr: “a big baby, who isn’t very popular.” pic.twitter.com/LkLp37w1K5
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) July 6, 2023
