West Hollywood votes to permanently remove Trump’s Walk of Fame star – but there’s a snag

The feisty, impeccably liberal city of West Hollywood struck a resounding, if symbolic, blow against Donald Trump when its council voted on Monday night to remove the president’s star from the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

There was, however, a snag.

While the star is not far from West Hollywood, it is not in fact in West Hollywood. And the vote – following a rowdy public meeting in which the council’s actions were praised by a man now facing a felony vandalism charge for demolishing Trump’s star with a pickaxe – unleashed a torrent of invective from the president’s fans, as well as anguish about misplaced priorities on both sides of the political aisle.

Liberal hand-wringers pointed out that the resolution said nothing about Bill Cosby, Kevin Spacey and others accused of abusive sexual behaviour whose stars remain intact. Conservatives alternately expressed disgust and rubbed their hands with glee at the sight of liberal west coasters doing exactly what conservatives always like to accuse them of doing – seeking to censor, banish and remove material they find offensive despite their nominal adherence to free speech.

“To maintain a level sidewalk,” the television personality and Fox News stalwart Geraldo Rivera tweeted acidly, “I assume all the other stars displayed will now be given the same character reviews and background checks to determine if their stars too deserve mutilation and banishment.”

The most immediate issue was West Hollywood’s lack of jurisdiction. While the resolution, passed unanimously, offered a laundry list of Trump’s sins – everything from his treatment of women to his separation of immigrant families at the border – it could do no more than urge the relevant authorities, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the city of Los Angeles, to do what it could not.