Stephen Nulty 5:57 pm on July 13, 2018
Tags: , , the sun, ,   

Friday 13 July 2018 – Donald Trump meets the Queen at Windsor Castle plus Trump contradicts his comments to The Sun

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As I write this post the Queen is hosting Donald and Melanie Trump for an hour-long meeting over afternoon tea.  The President arrived at Windsor Castle on board Marine One, his presidential helicopter, and drove the short distance to the parade ground where the Queen was waiting for him.  Interestingly, he was driven in a luxury SUV rather than the usual Beast limousine.  Of course, arriving by helicopter and landing within the privacy and protection of the grounds of Windsor Castle, the President was neither in danger from the protesters outside the Castle and probably didn’t even see them as he flew in from the opposite direction. 

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The President and First Lady were greeted by the Queen, unaccompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh.  They then stood for the American National Anthem and a guard of honour from the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards in their familiar red/black uniforms with bearskin helmets.  The President and the Queen briefly did a walk past of the Guards and then stood for a march-past by the Guards.  The Queen then escorted Donald and Melanie inside the Castle and out of view of the cameras for a private meeting.

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The Queen normally takes Fridays and Saturdays off, working on the other four days in the week – which is remarkable considering she is 92-years-old.  So giving up one of her days off to host the Trumps was perhaps a little annoying to her.  We, however, would never guess it if she is put out and she will perform her duties with dignity and, if she is aggrieved at having to host the President, with grace and silence.  What say the Queen has in the matter is questionable for, as a Constitutional Monarch, she is expected to follow the requests of her Government and Prime Minister.  Hosting Mr Trump, however, will be no problem for the Queen who, during her 66-year reign has hosted several dictators, despots and truly obnoxious people on the behest of her Governments.  Having Donald Trump to lunch will be a walk in the park for the Queen.  She will take anything he says or does that may be seen as a breach of protocol in her stride – it is the media and politicians who will freak out if he does break protocol.

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TRUMP CONTRADICTS HIS COMMENTS IN HIS INTERVIEW WITH THE SUN

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the President has contradicted earlier comments made in an interview with The Sun in which he dismissed the chances of a trade deal with the UK post-Brexit and praised Theresa May’s rival Boris Johnson.   Following his meeting with the Prime Minister at Chequers, the President was all praise for Mrs May and said that they had discussed plans for an “ambitious”  trade agreement and  that a trade deal “will absolutely be possible.”  Despite his criticisms of Mrs May, Brexit and London Mayor Sadiq Khan in The Sun interview, was now saying that the relationship between the US and UK was at “the highest level of special.”  Does anyone believe this?  It is widely reported that privately Mr Trump has no respect for Mrs May.

The Sun has been quick to stand by its reporting – though trusting The Sun for truthful or unbiased reporting is not generally a good idea – after Donald Trump questioned the paper’s interpretation of the story.  The Sun said: “We stand by our reporting and the quotes we used – including those where the president was positive about the prime minister, in both the paper and in our audio – and we’re delighted that the president essentially retracted his original charge against the paper later in the press conference. To say the president called us ‘fake news’ with any serious intent is, well […] fake news.” Trump had said the story was “generally fine” but “it didn’t put in what I said about the Prime Minister, and I said tremendous things. Fortunately, we tend to record stories now so we have it for your enjoyment if you’d like it. We record when we deal with reporters, it’s called fake news and we solve a lot of problems with the good old recording instrument.” 

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Photo: Trump and May at the Royal Academy Sandhurst

Referring to the audio of the interview does have Trump calling the Prime Minister a “nice person” and him saying they get along “very nicely.” The reporter from The Sun who conducted the interview, Tom Newton Dunn, was at the post-Chequers press conference and sparred with the President over the interview, with Mr Dunn arguing that he had included the positive comments about Theresa May in his write-up of the interview.  Mr Trump’s response suggests he hasn’t read the interview’s write-up or has only glanced at the headline: “If you reported them that’s good. Thank you very much for saying that. I didn’t think they put it in, but that’s all right. They didn’t put it in the headlines, I wish they put that in the headline, that’s one of those things.”

Mr Trump said that he apologised to the Prime Minister for the story, saying of her: “She’s a total professional because when I saw her this morning I said ‘I want to apologise because I said such good things about you’  She said: ‘Don’t worry it’s only the press.’ I thought that was very professional.”  The President again returned to his favourite theme – dismissing the media he doesn’t like as fake news. He was asked a question by CNN, but refused to answer, saying: “CNN is fake news. I don’t take questions from fake news. Let’s take a question from a real network.”  Unsurprisingly, the real network he took the next question from was Fox News.

Returning to his new-found admiration for the Prime Minister, the President described her as an “incredible woman” and said she was doing a “fantastic job” and now claimed there could be a “great” trade deal between the US and UK.  He elaborated: “I read reports where that won’t be possible, but I believe after speaking with the prime minister’s people and representatives and trade experts it will absolutely be possible.”

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TENS OF THOUSANDS PROTEST TRUMP’S VISIT

Tens of thousands of people, mostly women, took to London’s streets to protest and march against Donald Trump and his visit to the UK.  Two large marches took place, led by the Women’s March London and Stop Trump Coalition.  Even though the President has avoided the protests while in the UK by staying mostly away from London and travelling between sites by helicopter, the protesters were determined to be heard and to express their views of Donald Trump and his policies.

Here are some comments from people protesting (source):

Sarah Holbrook, 25 from Fleet, Hampshire: “I’ve always been anti-Trump, but that was the last straw for me [children being separated from parents on the Mexican/US border]. It’s the first time I’ve wanted to come out and protest against him.”

Martine Crowther, 52, from Somerset: “This is the first time in my life I’ve felt strong enough to come out and protest. He’s not fit to be president, he is just a failed businessman.”

Kat Nicholls, 32, from Surrey: “Ever since he’s been elected, he’s been the personification of hate. Since he’s been in power, we’ve seen racism rise. We need to replace that hate with kindness and love.”

Amie Sparrow, 38, living in the UK but originally from Chicago: “Now it is my chance in the country I live in to have my say about my home country. I feel really helpless being here and seeing all the horrible things he is doing to my country. It feels good to be out with all these people.”

Chantel Parsons, 31, living in the UK but originally from Washington DC: “Having been through sexual assault myself and watching those kids being taken away from their parents, it seemed poignant to come dressed this way [as a character from Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale]. I left Washington to get away from Trump and now he’s here. I had to join the march.”

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Hope Davis, on holiday from Pennsylvania with her family: “We suffer him everyday. You guys just have two days! But we wanted to show solidarity.” Her daughter, Sara, 16, said: “As a young Muslim woman of colour, I’m terrified of the way the government is going. His attitude towards immigration is terrible, there are children in cages. It’s important to march.”  Sara’s brother, Adam, 14, added: “What I feel the most strongly about is that when I go to school I shouldn’t have to worry about a shooting. I shouldn’t have to be scared. He needs to do more.”

Kolbassia Haoussou, protesting with Freedom from Torture, who is originally from Chad: “Donald Trump is president of one of the most powerful countries in the world and the message he is sending is that torture is OK. [Kolbassia is a survivor of torture in Chad] We want to send a message that torture doesn’t work. It breaks people and makes them leave their own country to seek help. I am lucky to have found that help but what about those who aren’t lucky? It must stop.”

Sonya Sceats, chief executive of Freedom from Torture: “We have seen the president of the United States advocate torture. We as a group don’t often hit the streets, but we wanted to stand with survivors living in this country and around the world against it.”

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Following Mr Trump’s meeting with the Queen the President ended his official visit to the UK and flew to his Scottish Turnberry golf course to spend the weekend before heading to Finland for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At Turnberry he will be joined by his son Eric who has flown into Scotland accompanied by a group of American businessmen.  Controversially, although a private visit to Scotland and to his own golf course, Donald Trump’s trip to Turnberry will be funded by the British taxpayer to the tune of several million.

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Photo: The Trump’s board Air Force One on their way to Scotland

Sources & Further Reading: