The UK does not want Donald Trump to come visiting. Now why would that be? He retweeted a “doctored propaganda video” posted by a British ultra-right group. Trump also tweeted after a terrorist attack in the London subway system, implying Scotland Yard could have prevented it. How does Britain really feel about the U.S. president?
After Prime Minister, Theresa May, mildly rebuked Trump for his attack on Scotland Yard, he hit back, according to The Guardian.
‘In effect, he told Britain’s prime minister, again via Twitter, to mind her own business and concentrate on catching terrorists. This was an extraordinary way to treat the leader of a close ally whom he had feted in Washington only in January.’
May invited Trump to Britain once before to celebrate the opening of the new U.S. embassy, but he cancelled the trip. When protesters lined the streets, the president claimed that he didn’t like the price and location of the new embassy. Yet, Mrs. May invited Trump once again. She was the first world leader to visit him after his inauguration.
After Trump announced he would travel to Britain in October, 22,000 people immediately signed up for a Facebook event to demonstrate. Celebrities, activists, and politicians plan to come together for the “biggest protest in British history.”
British Labour MP David Lammy tweeted that Trump would be “met by the biggest protest this country has ever seen.”
‘I am totally opposed to him visiting the UK.’
British celebrity, Stephen Fry, also tweeted a call for demonstrations.
‘We’re coming together to build a better Britain by standing with those Trump targets.’
The leader of the British Liberal Democrats, Vince Cable, said Trump was guilty, the UK publication The Guardian reported:
‘(Of an) open, deliberate, calculated insult to the prime minister.’
Cable said Trump was not welcome in Britain, and The Guardian agreed in that wonderful English way with words in this editorial:
‘His invitation to make a state visit should be withdrawn. With this, we heartily concur. The government’s dilemma over the visit and the wider implications of the row for the US-UK alliance are only too painfully evident. May’s rash offer, an attempt to curry favour when both leaders were relatively new to office, has undoubtedly made a rod for her government’s back. But Trump would be a big problem for Britain even if he were not intent on gorging his ego on royal audiences, banquets and gaudy parades in the Mall.’
‘As we have said before, Trump is not a fit and proper person to occupy the Oval Office. At a basic level, he does not understand how international – or personal – relationships work. His refusal to apologise to his country’s most steadfast ally for an egregious blunder, coupled with a refusal to take down the offending tweets or heed a formal complaint by Britain’s ambassador, is indicative of a dismaying contempt for long-established diplomatic conventions.’
‘Trump’s nationalistic, xenophobic “America First” outlook has no time for equal and balanced relationships between states, no thought for consensus or compromise. In Trump’s sad, blinkered world, you either win or you lose. He has a pathological need to get the better of everybody, be they friends like Britain, foes like North Korea, or hapless golf partners. With him, there is no middle ground.’
‘It is already plain, whether the product is chlorine-rinsed chicken, banned by the EU, or new aircraft – just look at the Department of Commerce’s harsh treatment of Belfast-based Bombardier – that big US companies will seek the toughest, most advantageous terms possible. In this aim, they have the full backing of “zero sum” Trump, whatever he may have told May…’
‘Trump’s unexplained, fawning attitude to Vladimir Putin, Russia’s predatory president, is the most glaring example of how he actively works against British interests. May recently accused Putin of “weaponising information” through cyber attacks, computer hacks, trolls, bots, fake news and other “active measures” designed to destabilise western democracies.’
To read the entire Guardian piece, click on this link.
In summary, Trump is not Britain’s friend.
Featured Images via Getty Images.
