Prime Minister Theresa May of the United Kingdom was questioned in Jordan about President Trump’s decision to post links to incendiary anti-Muslim YouTube videos on his Twitter feed:
Asked whether she would fire someone from her senior leadership team if they retweeted the same account Trump did, she said: “I have absolute confidence that my cabinet ministers would not be retweeting material from Britain First.”
In other words, she’d never hire someone like Donald Trump so it would never be necessary for her to fire such a person. She must have been thrilled to field such a question while visiting an important Muslim country that is allied with both Britain and the United States.
Overall, the reaction in the United Kingdom is one of complete outrage.
The British revolt against President Trump swelled Thursday with parliament members openly deriding him…
…In a sign of the disruptive wake unleashed by Trump, Britain’s Home Secretary Amber Rudd had to remind Parliament and the public that Britain’s relationship with the United States was bigger than one president — and that important trade, security and intelligence sharing are ongoing.
Trump is definitely now persona non grata there:
“It’s increasingly clear that any official visit from President Trump to Britain would not be welcomed,” tweeted London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, the first Muslim to hold the office. Khan has repeatedly called for Britain to withdraw an invitation for Trump to visit — and his stance appeared to gain more backing amid the outrage against the president…
…Vince Cable, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, was one of many to call on May to cancel the state visit offered to Trump.
“She must end humiliating dependence of #Brexit Britain on goodwill of evil racist. Cancel visit,” Cable tweeted.
It didn’t help that once Prime Minister May criticized the president, he told her to shut up and focus on her own problems.
.@Theresa_May, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2017
British officials were shocked at the personal nature of the tweet against May and the suggestion that Trump was boasting — even gloating — that the United States has had no recent terrorist attacks while Britain has suffered a string of deadly assaults.
Nonetheless, the Brits dutifully lined up to emphasize that their relationship with the United States is bigger and more important than their relationship with one president. But that’s only what you’d expect, and it comes in this context:
Trump’s latest missives prompted an urgent debate in Parliament on Thursday, where politicians across the political divide lined up to condemn the president’s tweets. In remarks rarely uttered about a U.S. president in the House of Commons, some parliamentarians mocked Trump as “stupid.”
We’re hearing that a lot lately. Trump is stupid, a moron, an idiot, an evil racist.
And we’re hearing it not from Democrats but from his cabinet members and elected officials in allied countries.
But Congress is focused today on tax cuts. They don’t seem to be able to focus on anything else.
That’s because tax cuts are like heroin for Republicans. They will do and accept literally ANYTHING for tax cuts.
I have no doubt that, say, Pat Toomey would violate his own infant granddaughter with a rusty steak knife and broadcast it during Super Bowl halftime if he got a tax cut out of it.
The rusty steak knives are for us, the taxpayers. The tax bill looks more and more like it’s going to pass. Personally, my husband and I will be facing some tight times and possible loss of our health care. But why would the Republicans care?
We, as a country, have lost face with former allies and Trump simply doesn’t care. He insults the countries who have been supportive and fair, and that means we have lost something more important than trade agreements. I know the goal of the party is to become isolationist, but the costs far outway the benefits, if there are any. And by cutting off partnerships with other countries, Trump opens us up to more interference by Russia. The allies won’t be eager to help us any longer.
These are dark times. It’s difficult to keep forging ahead. But I keep calling and speaking out, hoping it will make a difference.
We’ll each keep doing what we can. That the GOP clowns couldn’t come up with the votes yesterday gave those of us who give a damn another day to fight. Also unclear is if the House Freedom Caucus would agree to pass the Senate bill as is, sight unseen. These are dark and interesting times. When I was much younger, I knew people who lived through the Great Depression and the years leading up to it. They had plenty of lessons to teach anyone who would listen. Regrettably, the ones I know have long since passed, and with them, it appears a loss of appreciation of that dark chapter in our history – which may not quite repeat, but man, is it ever rhyming. We’ll see what later in the day brings us.
I fear that, if they pass this tax cut, a few years from now we’ll look back on this time leading up to it as the beginning of the coming economic devastation of the economy for the working and middle classes, the poor and retirees. And regret that more was not said or done that might have prevented it.
Now is not the time for the opposition (sigh) to be politically correct, polite or unwilling for fear of precedence to use every lever the Constitution provides to put the brakes on this train wreck. Just because for lack of control it may not be in our power to directly effect change, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t voice it or be reluctant to plainly call it like it is.
Certainly plenty of constituents calling it like they see it. Certainly plenty of Democratic elected officials have called the tax scam bill for what it is. Sherrod Brown especially has been vocal – and videos of him go viral (at least from what I see on my twitter feed). He’s been far from alone. I have no idea what is going on behind the scenes otherwise. As of this writing, apparently the Senate has its 50 GOP votes without a bill completed yet – that they are supposed to vote on in a matter of hours (Sen. Warner among others have bluntly noted that). A lot will now hinge on what happens in conference committee and whether the votes are still there once reconciliation negotiations are finished. We know the Senate deficit hawks will cave. We don’t quite entirely know what the House will put up with, and their members are more exposed to whatever fallout emerges. Wheels could still come off yet. But if this ends up on Dolt 45’s desk, it becomes the proverbial albatross around their necks. The sold their souls to a traitor who had no business stepping foot in the White House, and for what? To screw nearly all of their fellow Americans? And then once enough of these assholes can be swept into the dustbin of history, I imagine a generational effort to clean up the mess will be the next daunting task. It’ll be ugly, and the closer I get to retirement age, the more pissed I get by the sheer stupidity of what is happening now.
What a difference a year makes Grahm accuses the media of using his very words
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/30/16720814/lindsey-graham-trump-kook
Didn’t Trump send that idiotic Tweet to the wrong Theresa May?? I think he sent that to some random housewife in Balhom in SW England. What a putz.
Of course, Trump doesn’t give a flying feck who he insults as long as HE gets a giant suckingly yuuuuuge tax cut bc make no mistake: this Tax Cut for the Mega-Wealthy in particular benefits one Donald J Trump and the Trump family. Trump could give a stuff about other wealthy people. It’s all about him.
Plus Dolt 45 has been making money hands over fist breaking the Emoluments Clause, but of course, the Party of Absolutely NO Responsibility has done bupkiss about this, as well.
Ah, and what’s the protest I hear from the Big D???? crickets as usual.
Oh but lest I forget: I’m a purity pony. Whatever.
British officials are correct in their assessment of Trump, but no one in any role of power here cares. Tax Cuts! Tax Cuts! Tax Cuts! supercede all.
The donald is pissed that he will not get an invite to this springs Royal wedding. The Obama’s will get that invite. There is no way the Royals are going to let the donald take attention away from the wedding. I kinda feel sorry for the Brits as the twitter is going to be just brutal.
The Dems need to stay quite. I was delighted when they refused a meeting after his insult. I hope the Dems require some kind of public apology before they enter into any deal.
“something something [that black guy] is disrespecting our allies something something”
Could Trump insult Israel and get away with it? Or would that finally be too much cognitive dissonance? Because it is quite clear that the whole “disprespecting our allies” bit was ONLY about not letting Netanyahu do whatever he wanted (or at least writing a nasty letter about it).
My goodness, now Prime Minister Brexit starts sniffing that the low-grade racist prez Der Trumper is too anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim for her refined tastes? Too declasse for the anti-immigrant English vote that brought her to power? Seems like she is unwilling to accept any longer exactly who are her political allies, haha!
Also, too, if an appalled nation wants to have an actual effect on the hate-filled boobery (repeatedly!) emanating out of the TrumpAmerica WH, then actual consequences would have to flow from these Trumpite actions that are supposedly beyond the pale. Else it could appear as, um, mere posturing…
Trump, our great leader, genuflects to no one on the world stage (except Vladimir Putin).
Trump, our great leader, places the interest of no nation ahead of those of the United States (unless it’s Russia).
Trump, our great leader, is fearful of no one (except the guy with copies of his tax returns, 30 years worth of foreign business records, videos of him having sex with prostitutes in Moscow and heaven knows what else).
Typical British understatement
“Trump’s latest missives prompted an urgent debate in Parliament on Thursday, where politicians across the political divide lined up to condemn the president’s tweets. In remarks rarely uttered about a U.S. president in the House of Commons, some parliamentarians mocked Trump as ‘stupid.'”
I wish our own politicians, particularly democrats, would be this understated.
“We are doing just fine” as long as you don’t count all those killed or wounded at concerts in Las Vegas or church in Texas.