The Trump administration has hardly become known for conducting a stable foreign policy. Time and time again, U.S. President Donald Trump takes to attacking world leaders who are allies of the United States and sucking up to dictatorial leaders who aren’t. You might think that it would be simple for a modern U.S. administration to maintain friendly connections with countries like Canada and the United Kingdom, but Trump has proved that as far from a rule.
Another wedge in the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom has now been revealed by Reuters. According to the outlet, in a Washington, D.C., meeting last month with British Ambassador to the U.S. Sir Kim Darroch, the Trump administration’s so-called Ambassador for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback raised the case of the currently jailed British anti-Islamic activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.
Brownback pressed Darroch for his country to treat Yaxley-Lennon — who goes by Tommy Robinson and other aliases — more “sympathetically,” according to the report. Reuters spoke to an unnamed British official and two other sources described as “close to the organizers of a pro-Robinson demonstration planned for London on Saturday” in developing their new report.
Robinson’s supporters aren’t reportedly just trying to hype up his cause. They have, actually, been in reported contact with the Trump administration about his jailing. The bigot’s backers are reportedly at least in part concerned for his safety inside the country’s prison system.
Robinson boasts supporters of his anti-Islamic work both in the U.K. and overseas in the U.S. — and, according to Reuters, he can now count the Trump administration among those supporters. Brownback is said to have threatened public criticism of the United Kingdom’s handling of the case if they did not fulfill his sympathy request.
The hatemonger is currently in jail for disrupting a trial related to child molestation charges in May. For that crime, which consisted of him attempting to broadcast video recordings outside a British courthouse, he was sentenced to thirteen months in prison.
In the past, his work has included violent demonstrations against Muslims as part of the work of the “English Defense League,” which he helped found.
Reuters noted an absence of an apparent reason for Brownback sticking up for Robinson, which was — sort of — denied by the U.S. State Department, which claimed the “characterizations” to be “completely false.” There is even still a precedent for the report. even specifically for Trump administration support of British anti-Muslim extremists. This time around, that support is evidently masquerading as support for the “religious freedom” of bigots.
Late last year, Trump himself shared anti-Muslim propaganda on Twitter that had originally been posted by Jayda Fransen, deputy leader of “Britain First.” After he faced criticism for that support from the British government, Trump dug into his position, posting a Twitter message directed at Theresa May that read in part:
‘Don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place inside the United Kingdom.’
Inside the U.S., Trump has made his mark through having asserted, without a grounding in reality, that a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the United States was needed for national security.
While in office, that promised ban has been toned down to include only some Muslim majority countries, remaining a part of the Trump administration’s broad platform of bigotry.
Featured Image via Wiktor Szymanowicz/ Barcroft Im/ Barcroft Media via Getty Images
