Donald Trump Baby Balloon

During an official visit to the United Kingdom by President of the United States Donald Trump, an inflatable caricature of Trump was flown in protest at him, his visit, his perceived racial views and his policies.

                                             Donald Trump Baby Balloon near Parliament

The balloon was flown over Parliament Square, London, on 13 July 2018, where tens of thousands of protestors attended, and over the Meadows, Edinburgh, the following day, where protests were also held. Although Trump was not visiting Edinburgh, he was spending the weekend at his Turnberry golf course, but permission to fly the balloon there was refused by Police Scotland.

Description

The 6-metre (20 ft) tall, helium-filled plastic inflatable, also referred to as a "balloon" or "blimp", was designed by Matt Bonner and constructed by Imagine Inflatables of Leicester. It was made after a crowdfunding campaign on crowdfunder.co.uk raised the £16,000 cost of its creation and deployment. It depicts Trump as "an angry orange baby" with a snarling mouth and tiny hands; wearing a nappy, and holding a smartphone.

Use of the Balloon

Permission from the Greater London Authority (GLA), Metropolitan Police and National Air Traffic Service (NATS) was required for the balloon to be flown over Parliament Square, the space above which is considered restricted airspace. Permission was granted, allowing it to be flown, while tethered, up to 30 metres (100 ft) high, for up to two hours. Both the GLA's 'City Operations' team and NATS stressed that the nature of the protest did not play a part on their decisions.

Following its appearance in London, the balloon was taken to Edinburgh, where it was flown over the Meadows, a public park near to the city centre, as part of the protests against Trump's two day visit to Scotland, permission to fly the balloon near Turnberry golf course having been refused. On 17 July 2018, the balloon was tethered outside the O2 Arena in London, prior to the American rock band Pearl Jam playing at the venue.

Inspired by the UK Baby Trump balloon, activist groups in the US began fundraising for similar inflatables. One group of activists raised nearly $24,000 in a GoFundMe campaign to construct four Trump baby balloons that they plan to fly over Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Initially, they sought $4,500 to build one balloon, with permission from the designer, but exceeded their goals more than fivefold.

Motivation Behind the Balloon

One of the organisers, Max Wakefield said, "This is about the rise of far-right politics that dehumanizes people in order to get into power [and] an attempt to introduce some good British humour into the political discourse surrounding Trump's visit." Wakefield cited the Trump administration's family separation policy and Trump's withdrawal of the United States from the Paris climate agreement as examples of the kind of polices which the protest was targeting. Leo Murray, who led the campaign, wrote,

So when Trump visits the UK on Friday the 13th of July this year, we want to make sure he knows that all of Britain is looking down on him and laughing at him. That's why a group of us have chipped in and raised enough money to have a 6 meter high blimp made by a professional inflatables company, to be flown in the skies over Parliament Square during Trump's visit.

Reactions

Opinions on the balloon were divided. When it appeared that GLA permission might not be forthcoming, thousands of people signed an online petition calling for it to be granted.

Opposing the protest, Drew Liquerman, a spokesman for Republicans Overseas, said, "Frankly it's embarrassing. It's embarrassing for the people flying it, for the British residents of London and for people in the UK." Nigel Farage said the demonstrations was a "step too far" and "the biggest insult to a sitting US president ever".

Trump said, "I guess when they put out blimps to make me feel unwelcome, no reason for me to go to London."

Museums including the British Museum and the Museum of London have expressed interest in acquiring or displaying the balloon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_baby_balloon