Mixing pageantry and pugilism, President Donald Trump plunged into his long-delayed state visit to Britain on Monday, welcomed with smiles and a cannon salute by the royals but launching political insults at others in a time of turmoil for both nations in the deep, if recently strained, alliance.
It was a whirlwind of pomp, circumstance and protest for Trump, who had lunch with Queen Elizabeth and tea with Prince Charles before a grand state dinner at Buckingham Palace.
The queen used her toast to emphasize the importance of international institutions created by Britain, the United States and other allies after World War II, a subtle rebuttal to Trump, a critic of NATO and the U.N.
As Trump’s motorcade made its way through London, members of the Orthodox Jewish community recited a Bracha upon seeing the President of the United States.
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But most of the talk and the colorful images were just what the White House wanted to showcase Trump as a statesman while, back home, the race to succeed him — and talk of impeaching him — heated up. Yet Trump, forever a counter-puncher, immediately roiled diplomatic docility by tearing into London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
The agenda for Trump’s weeklong European journey is mostly ceremonial:
Later this week come D-Day commemoration ceremonies on both sides of the English Channel and his first presidential visit to Ireland, which will include a stay at his coastal golf club. For most presidents, it would be a time to revel in the grandeur, building relations with heads of state and collecting photo-ops for campaign ads and presidential libraries.
….Kahn reminds me very much of our very dumb and incompetent Mayor of NYC, de Blasio, who has also done a terrible job – only half his height. In any event, I look forward to being a great friend to the United Kingdom, and am looking very much forward to my visit. Landing now!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2019
But Trump has proven time and again he is not most presidents.
With the trip already at risk of being overshadowed by Britain’s Brexit turmoil, Trump unleashed a Twitter tirade after a newspaper column in which London’s mayor said he did not deserve red-carpet treatment and was “one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat” to liberal democracy from the far right.
″@SadiqKhan, who by all accounts has done a terrible job as Mayor of London, has been foolishly ‘nasty’ to the visiting President of the United States, by far the most important ally of the United Kingdom,” Trump wrote just before landing. “He is a stone cold loser who should focus on crime in London, not me.”
Khan supporters have previously accused Trump of being racist against London’s first Muslim mayor.
DeBlasio took to Twitter to respond to Trump’s insults:
— Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) June 3, 2019
.@realDonaldTrump is Putin’s twin, only his presidency will be shorter. #ConDon https://t.co/eVIMC43vLG
— Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) June 3, 2019
During the palace welcome ceremony, Trump and Prince Charles inspected the Guard of Honor formed by the Grenadier Guards wearing their traditional bearskin hats. Royal gun salutes were fired from nearby Green Park and from the Tower of London as part of the pageantry accompanying an official state visit, one of the highest honors Britain can bestow on a foreign leader.
But the U.S. president arrived at a precarious moment. There is a fresh round of impeachment fervor back home and uncertainty on this side of the Atlantic. British Prime Minister Theresa May has undergone months of political turmoil over Britain’s planned exit from the European Union, and French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to use the 75th anniversary of the World War II battle that turned the tide on the Western Front to call for strengthening multinational ties the U.S. president has frayed.
A sense of deja vu quickly spread around London as Trump barreled into the visit.
A year ago, he also had taken aim at his hosts before landing on English soil, blasting May in an interview hours before she hosted him for dinner. This time he has so far spared May, whom he will meet with on Tuesday, but he also has praised her rival, Boris Johnson, just days before May steps down as Conservative leader on Friday for failing to secure a Brexit deal.
“I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent,” Trump told The Sun. “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.”
It was not clear if that endorsement would help or hurt Johnson’s chances of becoming prime minister. Trump said he may meet with Johnson this week.
The President and Mrs Trump stand with The Queen, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall as the US and UK national anthems are played at the start of the #USStateVisit 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/BCUjwIpTk2
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) June 3, 2019
Never shy about weighing in on other countries’ affairs, Trump also told the Sunday Times that Britain should “walk away” from Brexit talks and refuse to pay a 39 billion pound ($49 billion) divorce bill if it doesn’t get better terms from the European Union. He said he might meet with another pro-Brexit politician, Nigel Farage, and claimed Farage should be given a role in the Brexit negotiations.
After lunch with the queen, Trump was given a biography of Winston Churchill as a gift — he’s a fan — and shown parts of the collection at Buckingham Palace, including an 18th-century map of New York, historic photos of golf at St. Andrews and books about birds and George Washington. Westminster Abbey was next, with a tour and moment of silence at the tomb of the Unknown Warrior.
As Trump crossed London, he was shadowed — at a distance — by demonstrators, who planned to fly again a huge balloon depicting the president as a baby. He declared there was “great love all around” but the Fake News would try to find protests.
As often happens when Trump travels overseas, norms were shattered, including when the president complained about his television viewing options in the foreign capital and urged people to punish CNN by boycotting its parent company, AT&T.
In an interview with The Sun, Trump weighed in on the American-born Duchess of Sussex. The former Meghan Markle, who gave birth to a son in May and will not attend the week’s events, has been critical of Trump, and when some of her comments were recited to him he told the tabloid, “I didn’t know that she was nasty.”
He said later he thought Markle would be “very good” as a royal and claimed he only meant her comments were “nasty.”
Marine One lands in Buckingham Palace gardens. #USStateVisit pic.twitter.com/5FEI5Zelgi
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) June 3, 2019
Trump will make his first presidential visit to Ireland on Wednesday, spending two nights at his golf club in Doonbeg, which sits above the Atlantic. After Dublin balked at holding a meeting in the city, a deal was struck for Trump to meet Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar at the VIP lounge at Shannon Airport, hardly the grand setting usually afforded a meeting of world leaders.
The centerpiece of the president’s European trip will be two days to mark the 75th anniversary of the June 6, 1944, D-Day landing, likely the last significant commemoration most veterans of the battle will see. The events will begin in Portsmouth, England, where the invasion was launched, and then move across the Channel to France, where Allied forces began to recapture Western Europe from the Nazis.
The day is normally a heartfelt tribute to unity and sacrifice, outweighing any national or political skirmish. But some on both sides of the Atlantic are nervous about Trump, who has shown a willingness to inject partisanship into such moments.
….Fake News will be working hard to find them. Great love all around. Also, big Trade Deal is possible once U.K. gets rid of the shackles. Already starting to talk!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2019
President @realDonaldTrump & First Lady Melania Trump are wheels down in the UK at the start of the #USStateVisit. 🇺🇸🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/RDghKSiUAf
— Ambassador Jane Hartley (@USAmbUK) June 3, 2019
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(AP)
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30 Responses
What a complete embarrassment this baal gaiveh piece of trash is to be leader of the most powerful country on earth. He speaks glowingly of murderous despots though.
RT: U’mein V’ U’mein. Note that the “Jewish” speaker of the House, John Berkow, denied Trump an invitation to address Parliament (as had Bush and Obama) based on Trump’s racist and sexist policies and comments. (I put yid in quotation marks since I’m not certain his mother’s conversion to yiddishkeit was done k’halahca)
Trump is 100% right tin responding to insults from radical Muslim terrorist supporting Mayor of London who compared Trump to Nazis during WWII.
Someone on Trump’s staff should explain that “pomp and circumstance” does not require him to be a pompous fool in any and every circumstance.
Most likely l’halacha a brocho l’vatala. One can make a brocho for the queen however.
rt, are you busy making brachos for Democrats Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, “Apartheid Israel” Jimmy Carter, “cheating” Bill Clinton— because they just LOVE Jews and just LOVE the State of Israel and just LOVE Torah values such as traditional marriage, the preservation of life for the unborn, and so on…?
Ye. Zat nisht nispoel by Trump. But we must have hakoras hatov to the eibeshter for putting him in his position and the amount he has helped us yidden!!!
Isn’t a bracha with Hashem’s name only allowed for a head of state who has the power to sentence people to death?
This great President should have be given many brochos.
Why didn’t YWN show a video of people saying משנה הבריות?!!?
hes not a king. no bracha. halacha.
The guy is a little loser, I’m English and have no idea why he would want to visit a country that has been ripped apart by politics, brexit &, most notably, anti-Semitism!
When the rabbonim visit the President in the Oval Office, they also make the brocha for him.
May G-d bless POTUS and keep him, far away from us.
שלא עשני גוי
Was the bracha that was recited in London today.
Baruch Hashem for President Trump. He has been a great leader. Can’t believe any frum Jew would speak against him.
Why does YWN follow the world media of giving the reaction news before the action.
The insults (unforgivable) came from the mayor, Trump reacted which he is entitled to.
So why state first Trumps tweets and then mention the mayors insults?
Its what the media does with the Israel Palestinian issues. E.G. Israel killed two terrorist. This follows four hundred rockets flown into Israel. Not very fair is it?
How can one say the Bracha without actually seeing him? I believe they only saw his car. Just sayin…
Etzhar, our President began insulting Mr. Kahn back in 2015 when Kahn was first running for mayor. President Trump’s venom direct at Mayor Kahn has increased over time. Frankly I do agree with Mr. Kahns op ed that the President was reacting to.
Question: What is the proper bracha upon seeing the Trumpkopf??
Answer: Look for the answer to the same question from the Anatevka Rebbe’s son to his father in the opening scene of Fiddler on the Roof (although London is arguably not a small Russian shtetel. In the opening scene, the Rebbe, ponders and ponders his son’s question for what seems an eternity and finally realizes the obvious answer : “Of course!!! . may the Ebeshter bless and keep the Czar . . . far away from us!” I suspect a good portion of the yidden in Stamford Hill and Golders Green wished AirForce 1 had landed in Anatevka International Airport rather than Stansted.
With the time lag in posting for moderator review, there is always a risk that another poster will note the obvious. In this case, yasher koach to Laughing for his knowledge of the proper baracha.
How dare we forget how supportive he’s been to Israel and Jews altogether. Rubashkin’s release was no small thing. His position on the Golan, on the embassy on allowing construction in Israel which is going on at a rapid pace. So he has his faults. So what! He is a goy!
Being able to say the bracha upon seeing the monarch is a rare opportunity: I had that chance 50 years ago, never since.
m10,
Complex old discussion. There are those who hold that if the head of state could save one from being killed i.e pardon this also warrants a blessing
May the Ribono Shel Olam grant the President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump, a long and healthy life, keep him in power and in office for many years, grant his Republican Party power in the United States Congress and in the fifty states and destroy the enemies of the President and the enemies of the United States completely and soon.
Amen!
Looks like most of the commentators here would rather invent a fairy tale than watch the wonderful words and positive advice President Trump has said in the public. This is truly the real embarrassment.
His two speeches should be taught in schools.
Is there a bracha for when the US president acts like a jerk? Maybe some Tehillim?
Joseph: Your brocha did not ask for wisdom for the US president. You obviously do not recognize one of his greatest deficiencies.
huju, we all should say teheliim for your sick soul.
Personally I say Asher Yazar or Shelo Asani….