Donald Trump’s visit to the United Kingdom has been a contentious topic for months now. Most recently, London mayor Sadiq Khan has called for the trip’s cancellation due to Trump’s boorish response to the city’s recent terrorist attack. Now our kindergartner-in-chief says he isn’t going to the U.K. if its people are going to be such meanies.
According to the New York Times, there are a few factors influencing Trump’s disinclination to hop across the pond. His unpopularity in Great Britain is such that any visit would inspire considerable protest. In fact, over half of British citizens consider Trump “a threat to global stability.” Purportedly, Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May have conversed about the potential disruptions his visit might bring.
But then, Trump isn’t faring any better at home: with polls diving to historic lows, Trump now avoids traveling to his home in New York City, for fear of demonstrations.
It is also the case that Trump prefers foreign leaders to travel to him without extending that same courtesy. He complained to his staff that the nine-day tour through the Middle East and Europe was too long and fatiguing. I’d make a pithy comment about Trump once claiming that Hillary Clinton lacked the “stamina” to be President, but frankly this is all too depressing. Our Oval Office is currently occupied by a manbaby who makes Prince John from Disney’s Robin Hood seem a gallant beau ideal of composure.
Trump may yet decide to make the trip to Britain, but it sounds as if he wants to do so on his own terms and without the slightest bit of pressure from his staff. Via the Times:
“Mr. Trump, who was visiting his golf course in Bedminster, N.J., over the weekend, has not definitely ruled out going, the officials said. They emphasized that it was possible that the president would eventually warm to the idea, and that keeping [the trip] off the schedule was the best way to prepare for any eventuality.”
Meanwhile, Theresa May’s office says plans for Trump’s visit are unchanged. A recent phone call between the Prime Minister and Orange 45 provoked suspicion that they had discussed this matter further.
“We aren’t going to comment on speculation about the contents of private phone conversations,” one of May’s spokespeople told the Times. “The queen extended an invitation to President Trump to visit the U.K., and there is no change to those plans.” This invitation was made sometime around Trump’s inauguration.
Still, other British officials aren’t too keen to discuss particulars regarding the visit, and May—who just lost the party majority in Parliament—has political complications of her own.
As for Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn—well, he’s made his position clear.
All of this news is so distasteful that I need a palate cleanser. So if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to contemplate how Robin Hood the fox could get it.