Bloomberg published a piece this morning about the strained relationship between Trump and PM Theresa May, which appears to be strained almost entirely because Trump is an arrogant, blustering, boorish asshole.
I don’t follow UK politics closely at all, but from what I’ve gathered, May is no day at the beach either and has run an administration that almost rivals Trump’s in its level of chaos and dysfunction.
Still, I felt for May when I read this:
Over a meal of blue cheese salad and beef ribs in the White House banqueting room, Trump held forth on a wide range of topics. “The president had strong views on all of them,” recalls Chris Wilkins, then May’s strategy director, who was among the aides around the table. “He said Brexit’s going to be the making of us. It’s going to be a brilliant thing.”
Trump turned to May and told her he believed there were parts of London that were effectively “no-go areas” due to the number of Islamic extremists. May chose to speak up to “correct him,” Wilkins said.
Trump also discussed his British golf courses and his hopes that the relationship with May would be stronger than the Thatcher-Reagan alliance. “It was an hour of the president holding court and the PM being very diplomatic and not many other people saying anything,” Wilkins said.
Yeah, I imagine that experience is familiar to pretty much anyone who dines with Trump. And it sounds like their phone calls go about as well as the dinner:
During formal phone calls between the two leaders, May finds it almost impossible to make headway and get her points across, one person familiar with the matter said. Trump totally dominates the discussion, leaving the prime minister with five or ten seconds to speak before he interrupts and launches into another monologue.
In one phone conversation during 2017, Trump complained to May over the criticism he’d been getting in British newspapers. Amid warnings that Trump would face protests in the streets when he arrived, he told the prime minister he would not be coming to the U.K. until she could promise him a warm welcome.
May responded to say such treatment was simply the way the British press operate, and there wasn’t much she could do. In the secure bunker underneath the prime minister’s office, her advisers listened in to the call in astonishment at Trump’s demand.
It’s no surprise Trump doesn’t understand how a free press and citizen dissent work in the UK since he’s famously clueless about the constitution at home that he so preposterously swore to protect and defend.
With any luck, the British people will be spared a state visit by Trump, simply because he’s a chickenshit. No such luck for May, though — she’s scheduled to meet with the fool at Davos tomorrow.
Oh well. At least she won’t have to prepare lengthy remarks.