Clare O’Neil calls Donald Trump jr a ‘big baby’ in deleted tweets
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Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has been branded childish for calling Donald Trump’s eldest son a “sore loser” and a “big baby, who isn’t very popular” in a since-deleted series of posts on Twitter.
Donald Trump jr postponed a planned Australian speaking tour on Wednesday after event organisers claimed delays in the processing of his visa application had made the trip untenable at this time.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has deleted tweets in which she disparaged Donald Trump jr, who has postponed a planned speaking tour of Australia.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Government sources said Trump jr was granted a visa on Wednesday morning and there was no immigration impediment to him travelling to Australia.
In two tweets sent on Thursday morning, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said: “Geez, Donald Trump Jr is a bit of a sore loser.
“His dad lost an election fair and square – but he says it was stolen.
“Now he’s trying to blame the Australian Government for his poor ticket sales and cancelled tour.”
O’Neil, who has cabinet responsibility for immigration, continued: “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.”
She later deleted the tweets.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson reposted the deleted tweets and said: “It’s good to see these childish tweets have now been deleted.
“The Minister should leave the woke tweets to Labor backbenchers and get back to focusing on the serious national security challenges facing Australia.”
Donald Trump, who served as US president from 2017 to 2021, is the frontrunner for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination.
Paterson said it was possible Trump could be elected president again in less than 18 months.
“If that happens, I hope for the sake of the AUKUS agreement that cabinet ministers in national security portfolios are able to restrain themselves from juvenile tweets like these,” he said.
Earlier in the day Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said Trump jr’s visa application was “treated in the same manner as anyone else and dealt within the same processing system” and said there were “no delays” in the processing.
“Any issue that Mr Trump has, or his promoters have that go to the postponement of the tour is a matter entirely for them,” he said.
“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 have been raised today.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Trump jr’s visa was handled in the “normal way”.
“Like anyone else, he was entitled to come here,” he told reporters at a press conference in Newcastle.
“The deferral of his travel is a matter for him.”
In a statement posted on Facebook with the hashtag #cancelculture, event organiser Turning Point Australia promised there would only be a “short delay” for Trump jr’s tour, which was originally scheduled for July 9 to 11.
“It seems America isn’t the only country that makes it difficult for the Trumps,” the group said.
“Announcement & more info coming soon about the postponement of the tour.”
Asked about O’Neil’s tweets a spokesperson for the conservative group said: “Turning Point Australia is not going to dignify the minister’s tweets with a comment. Suffice to say she is entitled to her opinion and freedom of speech no matter how idiotic”.
In the lead-up to the tour, Trump jnr, a favourite of pro-Trump conservative activists, said it was clear “the same disease of woke identity politics and cancel culture that’s crippled the US has clearly taken hold” in Australia.
“It is the biggest existential threat we face in the West and is literally the decay of Western society,” he said.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek last year apologised to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton for likening him to the Harry Potter villain Lord Voldemort, a jibe Albanese criticised as a mistake.
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