By Tom Fowdy
In terms of public opinion, there has never been a more unpopular US President amongst Britons than Donald Trump. According to YouGov's poll tracker, around 81% of the British public view the President negatively. There are many reasons why, from his style and personality in general, to his politics, and of course his abrasive treatment of the country itself which has only grown more unhinged since his second term has progressed.
Because Britain has refused to participate in Trump's illegal and reckless conflict in Iran, the White House has threatened Britain with tariffs, publicly insulted Prime Minister Keir Starmer, threatened to withdraw support for British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, amongst a litany of other things. Because of this, the so-called "Special Relationship" between America and Britain is now at its lowest point since Harold Wilson's government refused to join the Vietnam War in the 1960s.
But shifting past the rhetoric, how does Britain respond to a presidency which it clearly loathes? The answer has been to bootlick him ever more at the elite level and utilise the Royals as a tool of diplomacy to try and "charm" America. In the modern era, the British Royal Family are a ceremonial tool of British diplomacy. While they are officially detached from politics, their symbolism and prestige, with Charles III as the head of state, are used to build and maintain selected foreign relationships, directed by the government, to represent the country.
To gain access to the British Royals is a privilege and an honour which is conferred. Hence, the most valued foreign leaders are treated to a ceremonial Royal Carriage ride and a dinner at Buckingham Palace with the Monarch. In 2015, Xi Jinping was given such a privilege. Now, however, because the UK doesn't really like China anymore and must follow American strategic preferences, it is highly unlikely Beijing would be given such honours again. However, this rule doesn't seem to apply to a chaotic and unpopular American Presidency, and instead the opposite is true. It seems themoreTrump misbehaves, the more royal privileges he is given.
Hence in his second term, this US President with a record unpopularity has already been given two prestigious Royal visits at Buckingham Palace (largely a product of his trade war), and will now receive a dedicated visit by King Charles and Queen Camilla to America itself. This visit is controversial, and is going ahead despite calls from many politicians to cancel it amidst his destructive war in Iran and aggressive rhetoric towards Britain himself. As always, the argument as to "why" it should go ahead concerns "improving relations" and the "special relationship."
This constant approach of utilising royal visits to flatter Donald Trump is, in my opinion, nothing short of appeasement and reveals a logic of total subservience to America, as if Britain is obsessed with upholding its ties with the United States at all costs. What it makes it worse is that as a person and in the moral sense, Trump doesn't deserve such privileges and the argument of "diplomacy" is barely self-justifying given we are rewarding what objectively bad behaviour is, and it is completely out of line with how ordinary British people feel.
The US President makes multiple threats towards our country, and how do we reward that? We give him a triad of Royal visits. No US previous President, even those who were personally popular to the British public, such as Barack Obama, were given such prestigious flattery so frequently, perhaps he should have threatened us a bit more and called for annexing European territory, then we might have honoured him a bit more. Thus, the appeasement and bootlicking of Donald Trump shakes the credibility of the entire system, even more so when you consider the dual impact of the Epstein scandal on the Royal Family, associations with Trump himself, and then the news Charles and Camilla will not meet with his victims.
Thus, the British State has no spine. It talks about being tough on Putin, tough on China, but it is happy to flatter and confer its highest honours upon an American President that has no respect for our national interests and is in fact harmful to them. Trump's actions, through tariffs and through his war in the Middle East, is damaging an already stagnant and moribund British economy. Our leaders don't have an answer to this, assuming that flattering his ego with the King and Queen, reinforcing his own god-complex above others, is somehow the way to deter him from being ever more harmful. It is good to be diplomatic, and Trump can be destructive if he "doesn't get his own way", yet he also shown he can fold if you stand up to him and don't play his games.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Tom Fowdy:
Opinion | Trump is kicking the Iran Can down the road
Opinion | How Hong Kong 'reinvented itself' in a new era
Opinion | The end of the Middle East 'oil' paradigm
Opinion | Trump's nonsensical blockade of Hormuz and the US doctrine of 'no compromise'
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