Mixing pageantry and political pugilism, President Donald Trump opened a state visit to Britain on Monday by drawing a smile from Queen Elizabeth II and stepping up a long-running feud with London’s anti-Trump mayor before his plane had touched down on English soil.
Trump and his wife, Melania, flew by helicopter to Buckingham Palace, landing on a lawn where Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, greeted them. They received a deafening royal gun salute as they walked to the palace where a waiting queen smiled at the president.
Those were the images sought by a White House eager to showcase Trump as a statesman while, back home, the race to replace 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.
With the trip already at risk of being overshadowed by Brexit turmoil, Trump unleashed a Twitter tirade after a newspaper column in which Khan said Trump did not deserve red-carpet treatment and was “one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat” from the far-right to liberal democracy.
″@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.”
The president added that Khan reminded him of the “terrible” leader of his hometown, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio though “only half his height.” De Blasio, a Democrat, is a longshot candidate in the 2020 presidential race. Khan supporters have previously accused Trump of being racist against London’s first Muslim mayor.
The president then added warm words for his hosts, tweeting that he looked forward “to being a great friend to the United Kingdom, and am looking very much forward to my visit.”
The agenda for Trump’s weeklong journey is mostly ceremonial: a state visit and audience with the queen, 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.
During the palace welcome ceremony, Trump and Prince Charles inspected the Guard of Honor formed by the Grenadier Guards wearing the 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. He faces a fresh round of impeachment fervor back home and uncertainty on the other side of the Atlantic. British Prime Minister Theresa May has faced months of political turmoil over Brexit 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, Trump also took aim at his hosts before landing on English soil, blasting May in an interview hours before she hosted him for dinner. Though he has spared May so far this time, he has praised her rival, prime ministerial hopeful 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 the Trump endorsement would hurt or help Johnson’s chances of becoming prime minister. Trump said he may meet with Johnson this week.
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.
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