London’s new mayor, Sadiq Khan, was already a global media darling but remarks he made this morning about presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump will make him a world-wide hero of the left.

In an interview with Time, Khan claimed he had serious reservations about the rise of Trump and the prospects of his presidency: (emphasis mine)

Clearly [I’ll visit] before January in case Donald Trump wins … Hope, I think, is a good way of persuading people to vote for you, energize and enthuse people. I think to try and look for differences, to try and turn communities against each other is not conducive to living successfully and amicably.

I think Bill de Blasio is doing interesting housing stuff in New York, Rahm Emanuel is doing interesting stuff with the infrastructure bank in Chicago. I want to go to America to meet with and engage with American mayors. If Donald Trump becomes the President, I’ll be stopped from going there by virtue of my faith, which means I can’t engage with American mayors and swap ideas. Conservative tacticians thought those sorts of tactics would win London and they were wrong. I’m confident that Donald Trump’s approach to politics won’t win in America.

Trump, for his part, took a remarkably diplomatic and presidential tone in response to the obnoxious remark. Speaking to the New York Times Trump wished the new mayor luck and said he’d be welcome in the US:

“There will always be exceptions,” Mr. Trump said when asked in an interview on Monday how his proposed ban would affect London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan.

“I was happy to see that,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Khan’s election. “I think it’s a very good thing, and I hope he does a very good job because frankly that would be very, very good.”

Asked why, Mr. Trump said, “Because I think if he does a great job, it will really — you lead by example, always lead by example. If he does a good job and frankly if he does a great job, that would be a terrific thing.”

Let me just repeat that for emphasis: Mr. Trump responded with a diplomatic and presidential tone.

UPDATE: Reader John Mumaw makes a great point in the comment section. In January the British Parliament made a great show of debating whether their government should ban Trump from visiting based on his ideas that they found offensive. Nothing actually came of the show trial, but there are several Americans who have been banned from England including radio talk show host Michael Savage.