Trump is trying to make the British parliamentary elections about himself, which brings great joy to Labour and great heartburn to Boris Johnspm and his Conservatives.More than a few people say that Trump's toxicity cost the GOP the governors' mansions in beet-red Kentucky and Louisiana and both houses of the state legislature in Virginia. Virginia Republicans held their losses to a minimum by persuading Trump to stay on his side of the Potomac and not come into the state and campaign for GOP candidates the way Bernie and other Democrats were campaigning for legislative candidates. But in Kentucky and Louisiana Trump made numerous forays to campaign with Matt Bevin and Eddie Rispone, clearly making each election a referendum on himself. The night before the balloting in Kentucky, Trump told a huge audience in Fayette County, addressing Bevin "If you lose, it sends a really bad message. You can't let that happen to me." But they more than let it happen too him. In 2016 Hillary beat Trump is Fayette County 69,776 (51.2%) to 56,890 (41.8%). Last month Beshear beat Bevin, Trump's candidate there with a much higher Democratic and independent turnout than in the presidential election-- 73,397 (65.5%) to 36,915 (33.0%).I suspect that a British expert of U.S. politics explained what happened in Kentucky, Louisiana and Virginia to Boris Johnson because soon after those elections, Johnson publicly called for Trump to stay out if the British elections when he's in London this week for a NATO summit. "What we don’t do traditionally as loving allies and friends, what we don’t do traditionally, is get involved in each other’s election campaigns. The best (thing) when you have close friends and allies like the US and the UK is for neither side to get involved in each other’s election."Trump has already been denouncing Jeremy Corbyn and urging Johnson to form an electoral coalition with Nigel Farange's neo-fascist Brexit Party.Last week, the New York Post reported that "Corbyn has used Trump’s praise of Johnson as one of his focal messages to attack the Conservatives in his campaign, saying they would sell off parts of the much-loved state-run National Health Service to the US businesses after Brexit if they win the election. The Sun newspaper reported on Friday that senior Conservative Party figures feared [Trump] could say something during his two-day visit that upsets their campaign."Over the weekend, Washington Post reporters William Booth and Karla Asam wrote that "Trump just can’t seem to stay away from British politics. He’s fired off comments on topics including Brexit, his low opinion of a British ambassador, and how his Trump-branded golf course in Scotland 'furthers U.K. relations.' So there’s little surprise that the American president is playing an outsize role in Britain’s upcoming elections-- for good or bad, depending. In Britain, more than any other country aside from the United States, Trump has sought to bolster his political allies and trash his detractors."One British Conservative former parliamentarian, an old friend, told me today that "Trump sees Boris winning big and wants to glom onto that to burnish his own sagging image at home-- after losing every election he's interfered with... Whenever Trump gets involved it's always about himself and that's the last thing any of us want over here. He's poison."Last week, the New York Times's Annie Karni explained why Johnson is trying to avoid a one-on-one meeting with Trump, even though Trump is scheduled to meet with Merkel and Macron. Trump is very unpopular in the U.K. and is widely seen as a bull in a china shop even by people who don't especially dislike him. Karni introduced her piece by reminding her readers that he "barreled into London like a bowling ball on his first trip to Britain as president last year, testing the special relationship by criticizing then-Prime Minister Theresa May’s approach to Brexit in the pages of The Sun ahead of his visit while praising her political rival at the time, Boris Johnson."Johnson hopes Trump is pacified with a reception-- which Johnson won't be attending-- at Buckingham Palace hosted by Queen Elizabeth, especially now that Season 3 of The Crown is a hot on American TV.
It is unusual for the president not to participate in a bilateral meeting with the leader of NATO’s host country. While the president’s schedule was still in flux, one official said the reason for not scheduling a meeting was that Mr. Trump was “very conscious of the fact that we do not interfere” in other country’s elections.The official also noted that Mr. Trump “likes Prime Minister Johnson personally.”It went unspoken by the White House that Mr. Johnson has been desperate to keep Mr. Trump at a distance in an election where the American president is now seen as radioactive to many of his supporters. “What we don’t do traditionally as loving allies and friends, what we don’t do traditionally, is get involved in each other’s election campaigns,” Mr. Johnson said in a radio interview last week.Whether Mr. Trump is able to heed the “stay away” signals Mr. Johnson has been waving in his face remains to be seen.If he does, it would mark a big departure from his style on previous visits. Mr. Trump’s interview with The Sun defined his awkward trip last year to Britain, where he was forced to dismiss his own, recorded interview as “fake news” while standing next to Mrs. May at a news conference.The White House press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, said on Friday there were currently “no plans” for a follow-up interview with The Sun, a tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch.But Mr. Trump has a history of making life difficult for foreign leaders hosting him abroad. In May, when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan rolled out the red carpet for him during a state visit, Mr. Trump seemed to undermine all of the pomp and circumstance by downplaying concerns about North Korea’s tests of short-range ballistic missiles, even as Mr. Abe called them a violation of United Nations resolutions.During his two days in London next week, Mr. Trump is scheduled to participate in a working lunch with representatives of Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Britain. He also has meetings scheduled with the prime minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, whom he clashed with over his interest in potentially purchasing Greenland, and the prime minister of Italy, Giuseppe Conte.“We have a good story to tell,” Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary, said in an interview, noting that European allies have stepped up their financial commitments to the organization. Mr. Stoltenberg said he also expected the leaders to address China as a new challenge to NATO.“NATO has been focused on Soviet Union, Russia, then terrorism,” Mr. Stoltenberg said. “Now we also need to understand and address the consequences of shifting global balance of power and the rise of China.”Senior administration officials also described the anniversary gathering as a “celebratory leaders meeting” and said that Mr. Trump was “greatly looking forward to it.”
