Australia’s security agencies must watch closely the speech and actions of Don Jr and expel him at the earliest opportunity, as Alan Austin reports.
*Also listen to the audio version of this article on Spotify HERE.
DONALD TRUMP JR, the oldest son of former U.S. President Donald Trump, finally has his visa to visit Australia. There was some doubt the Albanese Government would grant this after an online petition garnered more than 20,000 signatures.
The petition simply read:
Donald Trump Jr is an illegal drug-taking bigoted person who should not be allowed to enter Australia for the purpose of earning himself and possibly his father any “Campaign Contributions”.
Ban him from this country.
Trump family criminality
Surprisingly, the petition doesn’t mention Don Junior’s role in the Trump Organisation, arguably the world’s most notorious criminal operation.
In January this year, the property development group was found guilty of multiple fraud charges arising from a 15-year scheme to evade taxes payable on senior executive incomes. The corporation was fined the maximum of US$1.6 million (AU$2.4 million). Chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg copped five months in gaol.
Those convictions came after decades of adverse judgments for illegal activities. The Trumps were first convicted of tax fraud after filing false Schedule Cs in 1984. In 1988, they paid US$750,000 (AU$1.1 million) in penalties for the Holiday Corporation fraud, and in 1991, Trump’s Atlantic City casino was found guilty of money laundering.
In 2000, the corporation was fined US$250,000 (AU$373,065) for violating New York State planning laws. It was sued in 2009 by more than 100 investors defrauded in the failed Trump Ocean Resort Baja Mexico. In 2016, the Trumps paid US$25 million (AU$37.3 million) to settle action over the fraudulent Trump University. In 2019, the Trump family paid US$2 million (AU$2.9 million) in restitution when their charity was shut down after “a shocking pattern of illegality”.
Trump Junior is not an innocent bystander. He is currently a trustee of the Trump Organisation and its executive vice president. He was the senior executive officer of all global operations throughout his father’s presidency.
He could have left the family’s criminal operation, as have his sisters Tiffany and Ivanka. He hasn’t.
Malicious election lies
Arguably, Donald Trump’s most destructive activity has been his campaign to convince Americans that the elections he and his supporters have lost were all “stolen”.
Just last Wednesday, Washington’s highest court suspended election denier Rudy Giuliani from practising law there.
Its scathing condemnation of the former Trump lawyer stated:
‘Mr Giuliani’s effort to undermine the integrity of the 2020 Presidential Election has helped destabilise our democracy. His malicious and meritless claims have done lasting damage and are antagonistic to [his] oath... His frivolous claims impacted not only the court and parties involved but threatened irreparable harm to the entire nation.’
All those spreading the stolen election lies are doing irreparable harm. They include Donald Jr who delivered an incendiary speech at the 6 January 2021 rally before the notorious insurrection.
Calls for violence against opponents
Donald Jr has never distanced himself from his father’s calls to physical violence. In fact, he presents himself in his Australian tour’s promotional material as ‘the voice of undiluted Trumpism’.
At the infamous 6 January rally, he said:
“If you're gonna be the zero and not the hero, we're coming for you.”
This followed a tweet stating:
‘The best thing for America’s future is for Donald Trump to go to total war over this election...’
Soon after, Washington DC Attorney General Karl Racine said he was investigating Don Jr for inciting the violence at the U.S. Capitol.
Racist beliefs
Multiple events have confirmed Don Jr’s support for the doctrine of White supremacy. These include a 2016 interview with White supremacist James Edwards, using Holocaust imagery in September 2016 to criticise media coverage of Hillary Clinton, praising Mike Cernovich who promotes the debunked White genocide and Pizzagate conspiracy theories, and joining far-Right causes with Neo-Nazi Jack Posobiec.
Engagement with Russia
We know from the findings of the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Mueller report that Russia interfered in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections to support Donald Trump.
We also know Don Jr was a key negotiator, having met and maintained contact with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and others.
Coronavirus denial
In October 2020, Don Jr held a crowded indoor rally without masks, in violation of clear health rules. Also that month, he told Fox News that the COVID death rate has dropped to “almost nothing”, claiming “because we've gotten control of this thing. We understand how it works”. None of that was true.
Visit delayed?
Organisers of Don Jr’s tour, Turning Point Australia, have announced its postponement, with new dates ‘to be confirmed in the coming days’. Whether this is due to the visa’s late arrival or ticket sales is unclear.
Events were scheduled for Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, at $89 for the cheap seats (plus booking fee), $295 to shake hands and take a photo, $495 for a photo and a glass of bubbly after the show and ‘price on application’ to attend a private dinner.
Australia’s Home Affairs Minister, Clare O’Neil, cheekily tweeted:
‘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.’
Although that tweet has been deleted, one American comedian is still laughing.
Tommy Campbell satirises the aborted tour cleverly, noting:
“Part of me just wants this fake outdoorsman to go [to Australia] with the hopes that he will get roped into some proper adventure. Let’s see how the guy who hunts trapped bears with doughnuts does in the outback. Or on Fraser Island with dingos, great whites and box jellyfish.”
Rupert Murdoch’s Sky News is promoting the tour enthusiastically. It claims 8,000 tickets were sold and that the price of the dinner was $2,500. We shall see if it proceeds.
If it does, let’s hope it is monitored for calls to violence, violations of human rights and criminal activity.
*This article is also available on audio here:
Alan Austin is an Independent Australia columnist and freelance journalist. You can follow him on Twitter @alanaustin001.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
Support independent journalism Subscribe to IA.
