TRUMP ACCEPTS INVITE FROM QUEEN ELIZABETH II TO A STATE VISIT TO THE UNITED KINGDOM IN JUNE
Mary Chastain
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II invited President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump to a state visitto the United Kingdom in June “to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day.” Both have accepted.
This state visit is Trump’s first to the UK. He attended tea with the queen in June 2018.
He will also speak with British Prime Minister Theresa May. From the BBC:
Mrs May said that June’s State Visit was an “opportunity to strengthen our already close relationship in areas such as trade, investment, security and defence, and to discuss how we can build on these ties in the years ahead”.
The White House said the visit will reaffirm the “steadfast and special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom”.
From Reuters:
“The UK and United States have a deep and enduring partnership that is rooted in our common history and shared interests,” May said in a statement.
“The State Visit is an opportunity to strengthen our already close relationship in areas such as trade, investment, security and defence, and to discuss how we can build on these ties in the years ahead.”
The BBC reportedthat “Canada, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Greece, Slovakia and the Czech Republic” also received an invitation to attend the event.
The Trumps will then travel to France to participate in other D-Day events at Normandy at the request of French President Emmanuel Macron.
The idea of a Trump state visit came up recently, which led to The Guardian‘s editorial board to demand it not to happendue to the supposed “damning” report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller. They wrote:
The proposal that the British state should extend to this unworthy man its highest honours, including an address to parliament, and a banquet and carriage ride down the Mall with the Queen, is misjudged. It will do nothing to revive the “special relationship”, already torn apart by Trump’s reactionary policies on climate change, migration, race, multilateralism, Yemen, nuclear arms, civil liberties and other issues. What it will do is give an undeserved boost to a wounded charlatan.
If Americans are content to allow a habitual liar who has presided over systemic illegality, numerous ill-concealed attempts to obstruct justice and a foul-mouthed culture of venality and vendettas to continue to lead their country, that is a matter for them. But the British people cannot be expected to collude or condone such misbehaviour. And what’s to be gained? A fantasy post-Brexit trade deal? Trump’s word, evidently, cannot be trusted.
Protests from Londoners greeted the Trumps during their last visit. People boasted of a big baby Trump balloon, but it turned out to be really small. The Telegraph wrote that these “[C]ampaigners have already said they intend to do the same again when Mr Trump comes in June.”
[Featured image via YouTube]