Daily Times

Theresa May has done her country proud. At least in terms of keeping calm and carrying on in the midst of the Donald Trump maelstrom. For even before he hit Britain, the American president lived up to his unquiet reputation. Indeed, he took mansplaining to another level.

Mr Trump used the timing of a state visit to give an explosive interview to tabloid rag, The Sun. In which he appeared to chastise the British premier for not heeding his advice on negotiating a hard Brexit. He also suggested a price would have to be paid by a sitting woman head of government not doing as she was told by a man; one who leads a foreign country, no less. Thus she would have to go and stand in a corner and ponder how she has forced his hand to take the promise of a free trade deal off the off the table.

If this were to pass, it would be disastrous for the May regime. After all, the latter has pinned all post-Brexit economic hope on Washington. As if Downing Street does not have enough to juggle given that this week alone it has lost not only the Brexit minister but also Boris Johnson, the former Foreign minister. A man who ever since David Cameron resigned — after unilaterally deciding against sticking around to look at the fine mess that he had got the country into with his in-out referendum — has envisaged himself as the heir apparent. And a man whom Trump decided to publicly declare would make a great Prime Minister.

Such verbal faux pas may just be part of the Trump ‘charm’ that sees no distinction between going rogue on Twitter and talking to a national newspaper. Except, perhaps, when it comes to dismissing the latter as ‘fake news’. Be that as it may, it highlights an astounding lack of decorum. Even worse, however, were comments directed towards Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London; whom the American president accused of being soft of terror. Never mind that it was Trump and not Khan who retweeted a video by a British far-right group. This is not to mention his contrived linking of an influx of refugees to an erosion of European culture. It thus seems that Mr Trump needs a lesson in multiculturalism. As well as a reminder that his own country was once known as a land of immigrants; a veritable melting pot. Yet today it is known around the world as one that authorises the caging of migrant children.

Elsewhere, Nigel Farage, former leader of the far-right Ukip party and chief Brexiteer, described the six-metre tall blimp depicting a baby Trump complete with nappy as the “biggest insult to a sitting president” He may be right. But we are with Sadiq Khan on this; who gave permission for the balloon to fly high in the capital’s skies. And with Theresa May who did not protest the decision.

After all, diplomacy, or the lack thereof, is a two-way street. *

Published in Daily Times, July 14^th 2018.