President Trump’s three-day state visit to the UK began Monday, June 3rd. While he received a royal welcome from Queen Elizabeth, including a banquet at Buckingham Palace, his visit has been controversial.
The President has also been greeted by more than two dozen anti-Trump protests. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the London streets. In one protest, a giant inflatable caricature of Trump as a baby in a diaper was placed outside the UK Parliament.
London’s Mayor, Sadiq Khan, even wrote an opinion piece for The Guardian. In it, he says that it is “so un-British to be rolling out the red carpet” for Trump. Khan also describes him as “one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat.”
Khan thought his state visit should be rescinded. Trump responded with a tweet right before arriving in the UK.
“@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 tweeted. “He is a stone cold loser who should focus on crime in London, not me….”
….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
“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!” Trump added.
Khan told CNN that he was “not offended in the slightest” by Trump’s remarks.
“This is the sort of behavior I would expect from an 11-year-old,” Khan said. “But it’s for him to decide how he behaves. It’s not for me to respond in a like manner. I think it’s beneath me to do childish tweets and name-calling.”
Khan believes in the people’s right to peacefully protest Trump’s visit and express their concerns. When asked about the UK’s desire to create a post-Brexit trade deal with the US, Khan was not optimistic about potential deals made with the Trump administration.
“His mood changes from hour to hour,” Khan warned. “He can be upset by an article in a Sunday newspaper to the effect that he resorts to name-calling.”
Featured image: US Embassy London/Flickr
