In August 1963, Martin Luther King Jr led a 250,000 strong march to call for the extension of Civil Rights to African-American citizens; in February 2003 approximately 1 million people gathered in London to oppose the imminent Anglo-American invasion of Iraq; now, in 2018 a crowd-funded campaign has surpassed its fundraising goal to fly a six meter high blimp of a baby Donald Trump across the skies of London during his planned state visit.
Welcome to a brave new world of protesting. We live in a time where we have realised the folly of protest marches as the supreme form of voicing opposition. Who really has the time or inclination to congregate near some beloved national monument in a capital, before trudging, placard in hand, to another nearby landmark? Many have called this transition inevitable' inevitable that we hang up our marching shoes/ consign them to your shoe storage location of choice, for me that's under a radiator, and instead focus our energies on trying to get vast novelty effigies of whichever political figure we are lampooning, airborne.
The crowdfunding page, simply and elegantly entitled 'Trump Baby', has already surpassed its initial target meaning that they have enough to get the blimp into the air. However they are waiting to hear back from the Metropolitan police and the Civil Aviation Authority to see whether they are allowed to fly their large orange monstrosity. Their ultimate goal is to raise enough to rent a barge so that they can launch it from a location on the Thames near to where the presidential convoy will be going. If they are unable to get approval from the relevant authorities then the barge option is the nuclear option. We need to help them raise enough funds so that they may launch this terrifying Trump blimp (Trimp/blump?) from a barge.
The most remarkable thing about this whole thing however is that they are already in possession of a 6 meter Donald Trump blimp. These guys, evidently mean business. They're not here to fuck about. They're not your ten-a-penny novelty crowd-funding page who off-handedly declare "hey, wouldn't it be funny to, like, fly a giant inflatable effigy of Trump over London during his visit?" No, these guys have a pre-made Trump blimp (Trimp/ Blump?); they have a warehouse; they have a resolute determination to humiliate Trump by unleashing this blimp from the confines of the warehouse and flying it, at a low altitude across the city during his visit.
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Unknowing citizens that day would be forgiven for believing that they've been transported to an alien world as they look up to see a second vast orange orb in the sky, malevolently glaring down at them. Forgiven for thinking that a second sun has appeared, a sun with very restrictive views on the free movement of people.
If you would like to help make this happen, visit their crowdfunding page. They will also donate any leftover funds to various charities directly to issues inflamed by Trump's policies.
