The president has butted heads with other leaders in world affairs essentially ever since taking office; doing so has pretty much been his modus operandi. In one example of this tendency of his, he once lambasted the British prime minister on Twitter for supposedly not doing enough to combat terrorism in her country. He did so after PM Theresa May was among those to criticize him for amplifying online content produced by a virulent British ultra-nationalist.
Now, another British leader has butted heads with Donald Trump; this time, though, there’s a slightly different context.
In a clip released ahead of the airing of a special on ITV about Queen Elizabeth’s take on gardens and the natural environment, she can be heard joking that a helicopter circling overhead reminded her of both Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama.
She quipped:
‘Why do they always go round and round when you want to talk? Sounds like President Trump, or President Obama.’
Check out the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbPYCgPMU8U
She commented as such while speaking to British naturalist Sir David Attenborough, who acts as the host for the upcoming television special The Queen’s Green Planet. The two of them were in the gardens outside Buckingham Palace at the time. The special was apparently filmed last summer, according to the Daily Mail.
The Queen has never actually met President Trump in person, although she’s no doubt seen plenty of news covering the angry businessman with questionable ethics who ascended to the highest office in the United States. Trump gained a level of notoriety for incessantly interrupting Hillary Clinton when the two of them faced off for a general election debate back in 2016.
Overall, the president has certainly long proven his tendency to assert himself as the greatest authority at hand when it comes to discussions about any of a wide array of topics, leading to the phenomena that the Queen joked about.
Although she has extended an invitation to Trump for a state visit, he has not yet taken her up on the offer. He is set to do so later this year.
In contrast, the Queen has met Barack Obama twice. As an issue stretching across presidencies, the Daily Mail notes that the U.S. presidential helicopter has in the past been “blamed for damaging royal lawns.”
Ironically, while the focus of the special for which the Queen and Attenborough were filming is certainly not Donald Trump, the very premise of the show puts her at odds with the U.S. president outside of the context of her joke.
The program is set to highlight the Queen seeking “to mark her lifetime’s service to the Commonwealth by encouraging a network of conservation projects in all 53 member states,” the Daily Mail describes.
When it comes to environmental issues, the president has long established which side he’s on through such means as moving to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord last year, although withdrawing takes more than just angry comments from our commander-in-chief.
Even still, the president has shown where his allegiances lie when it comes to these issues, making his presidency a stark contrast to the leadership of Queen Elizabeth.
Featured image via screenshot from the video
