Starting tomorrow, the most hated man in the world and his largely detested family, are coming to England for a 3-day state visit-- and at a time when the U.K. is facing its most significant crisis since the Second World War. Most people think the visit should have been canceled once Theresa May, who invited him, announced that she is stepping down as Prime Minister. Anyone who didn't see why at the time, soon did-- as the always inappropriate Trump waded into the battle for a successor.
His bombshell intervention into the Conservatives’ contest-- just a few days before MPs start voting-- is a major breach of protocol.It risks sparking a full-blown diplomatic rift between London and Washington if the mop-haired former London mayor fails to take the Tory crown.While stopping short of offering his full endorsement, Mr Trump told The Sun: “It’s something that I find very interesting.“I actually have studied it very hard. I know the different players.“But I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent.”The President added: “I like him. I have always liked him. I don’t know that he is going to be chosen, but I think he is a very good guy, a very talented person.“He has been very positive about me and our country.”His intervention-- and his other outspoken opinions today-- mean his visit is set to be the most controversial by a serving US leader....Also during the exclusive interview:• Donald Trump said Theresa May messed up Brexit by handing EU all the cards• The President said he was surprised Meghan Markle was 'nasty' about him but it's great to have an 'American princess'• Mr Trump said ‘I am really loved in the UK’ despite protestsMr Trump, 72, also insisted that Boris’s well-known philandering scandals should not halt him from winning.Asked whether he thought Mr Johnson’s extra-marital affairs and love child mattered, the President replied: “Well, it always matters, but I think that it’s certainly not what it was 20 years ago, and not certainly what it was 50 years ago. I think today it matters much less.”Mr Trump spoke to The Sun from behind his desk in the Oval Office, the White House inner sanctum which all US presidents have used since 1909.In more explosive remarks, he also claimed that he could have a big impact on the race for No10-- currently being fought by 12 different candidates.And he claimed that several other contenders had also approached him for his public help.He said: “Other people have asked me for an endorsement too. I have been asked for endorsements.” [He's lying, as usual.]Quizzed on who, Mr Trump replied: “Well, I don’t want to say who but other people have asked me for endorsements, yes.”He added: “I could help anybody if I endorse them. I mean, we’ve had endorsement where they have gone up for forty, fifty points at a shot.“Now that is here, but I understand over there would be a great endorsement.”Mr Trump’s disclosure that others have approached him is likely to trigger a Westminster hunt for their identities.He also revealed to The Sun that he looks favourably on Jeremy Hunt too, saying of the Foreign Secretary: “Yup. Like him.”The President heaped praise on a recent leadership race offer from Mr Hunt to significantly increase UK defence spending to well above the two per cent minimum Nato target if he becomes PM. Mr Trump said: “I think that’s great. I love it.”Asked if he would like all the candidates to make the same pledge on military spending, he added: “I think it’s a good thing.“I think it’s great for the UK, and it would be part of trade.“We make the greatest military equipment in the world.“The UK should be able to defend themselves. It’s a great and very special place.” The President made reference to golf courses he owns on this side of the Atlantic.He said: “As you know, OK, so, I own Turnberry, it’s a great place, one of the most beautiful.“And in Ireland I own Doonbeg, OK, and my mother was born in Stornoway. OK, so that’s a lot of representation for a US president.“I don’t imagine any other US president was closer to your great land.”But Mr Trump also had some harsh words for another Tory leadership front-runner, Environment Secretary Michael Gove. He last week accused Mr Trump of “sabre rattling” over his aggressive policy towards Iran.Having pulled the US out of the international nuclear deal with Tehran last year, the President recently dispatched an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf to retaliate against what America claimed were new direct threats to its interests in the region.Mr Trump said of Mr Gove’s criticism: “Well, I’m just trying to help him and it’s not costing him anything.“I’m trying to make it so that Iran does not have nuclear weapons. Very simple. And I can’t think of anybody other than us that would benefit more than the UK, so he should be all for that.“Nuclear weapons is the single biggest problem that the world has and we can’t allow them to proliferate. We just can’t allow it.”Asked if Mr Gove was one of the candidates who had asked for his endorsement, Mr Trump said firmly: “No he wasn’t.”
As Thomas Wright reminded Atlantic readers on Friday, Trump has repeatedly interfered in domestic UK politics, almost as though he were working hand in hand with Putin to undercut Theresa May every step of the way. He wrote that for the two or so years the loudmouthed baboon of a president "has interfered in the U.K.’s domestic politics. He has repeatedly undermined its national security with his comments and actions after terrorist attacks in Britain. He has bullied and humiliated the prime minister, Theresa May. He has accused British intelligence agencies of spying on him, even after he promised not to do so. Trump has taken a predatory approach in trade talks, seeking to squeeze controversial concessions out of London at a moment of weakness, even at the risk of sabotaging the prime minister’s Brexit deal. He refused to listen to the British government on vital issues of shared concern, such as Iran and climate change... Trump’s constant interference, insults, and needling of senior British officials, including May, weakens the case for the alliance within Britain and could empower Jeremy Corbyn, the U.K.’s opposition leader and a longstanding critic of the United States."Meanwhile, Trump's candidate for PM, has a Russian money scandal and a Trump-like gaslighting scandal swirling around him. Last year the NY Times reported that "Britain’s financial and legal firms have been big beneficiaries of Russian capital flight, and London, less than four hours flying time from Moscow, is a popular destination for the country’s oligarchs, some of whom have invested in luxury property, soccer teams and other assets... Britain’s financial center has so far found it impossible to resist the large sums of money that flow from Russia, even if there are troubling questions about the source of some of these assets."
“Despite the strong rhetoric, President Putin and his allies have been able to continue ‘business as usual’ by hiding and laundering their corrupt assets in London,” said the report, which entitled one section of its findings “closing the ‘laundromat.’”Though the proportion of dirty money in London was estimated to be small, relative to the size of the financial sector, the committee said, “the damage that this money can do to U.K. foreign policy interests, by corrupting our friends, weakening our alliances and eroding trust in our institutions is, however, potentially enormous.”...There was also veiled criticism of Mr. Johnson, who was asked by lawmakers what his department could do to stop the flow of corrupt money. “He appeared to suggest, however, that there was no real role for government in the process,” the report said.While noting that Mr. Johnson and other ministers were right to assert that they cannot order law-enforcement agencies to investigate individuals without any evidence, the committee added that observing due process “cannot be an excuse for inaction or lethargy.”Lawmakers noted that Russia itself did not seem overly worried that Britain’s aggressive rhetoric would be put into practice. On March 15, after the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Britain, Russia’s embassy in London drew attention on Twitter to a bond sale by Gazprom, the Russian energy company, with the words “Business as usual?”
Johnson has admitted that he finagled a £160,000 contribution from a Putin-connected Russian oligarch, Vladimir Chernukhin, formerly Putin's deputy finance minister.Back to tomorrow's dreaded visit, NBC reported that "There are few precedents when it comes to presidential state visits. This is only the third for a U.S. president since the queen assumed the throne in 1952, with Bush receiving the honor in 2003 and Obama in 2011. The queen only hosts one or two state visits a year. This trip will stand in stark contrast to Obama’s visit in particular. Obama and his wife Michelle were welcomed by the queen, as well as the glamour couple of the time, Prince William and Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, who had married only a month earlier. Their Buckingham Palace banquet was filled with glitz and glamour and included former prime ministers as well as the mayor of London, and even actor Tom Hanks.
Ahead of Trump's arrival, however, some of the U.K.’s most senior politicians have said that the visit is a mistake and that they won’t attend the Queen’s uber-formal state dinner at Buckingham Palace.Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has refused to join the white tie event and said that May "should not be rolling out the red carpet for a state visit to honor a president who rips up vital international treaties, backs climate change denial and uses racist and misogynist rhetoric."...But he’s not the only political leader refusing to meet with the president.Vince Cable, leader of the centrist Liberal Democrats, also turned down a seat at the dinner with Trump. And Mayor of London Sadiq Khan called May’s invitation “ill-judged” and called on her to revoke it in 2017 when it was first made.Despite the objections to Trump's visit and the difficulty for U.K. politicians to head off any explosive comments the president may make, experts say that the close relationship between the two countries is bigger than their leaders.“The government has made big attempt to say to people that however much you may find Trump objectionable you must distinguish the man from the office,” said the former Ambassador to the U.S. Christopher Meyer."This is a state visit, this is an honor for the whole of the U.S."
