Donald Trump has reportedly put his trip to Britain ‘on hold’ indefinitely

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In normal administrations, Republican and Democratic, it’s traditional that America’s “special relationship” with Great Britain is marked in certain ways in the first months of a new administration. Traditionally, the prime minister of the UK is the first (or one of the very first) foreign leaders to visit a new president. Traditionally, one of the first trips a new president makes abroad will be to the UK. As you can imagine, Donald Trump has blown that up. While PM Theresa May was one of the first leaders to visit Trump, he did not put Britain on his list of countries to stop by during his low-energy foreign trip last month. Israel, Saudi Arabia and Italy got to see Emperor Bigly in person before Britain. Theresa May did extend an invitation to Trump in his first month in office, and it was said that he was very excited to meet the Queen and be treated like American royalty. Maybe he thought the Queen would give him something shiny, and let him touch an orb. But reality has sunk in, and Bigly’s big trip to Britain keeps getting pushed back. It was going to be this summer, then in the fall. Now the Guardian says Bigly has canceled it indefinitely.

Donald Trump has told Theresa May in a phone call he does not want to go ahead with a state visit to Britain until the British public supports him coming. The US president said he did not want to come if there were large-scale protests and his remarks in effect put the visit on hold for some time. The call was made in recent weeks, according to a Downing Street adviser who was in the room. The statement surprised May, according to those present. The conversation in part explains why there has been little public discussion about a visit.

May invited Trump to Britain seven days after his inauguration when she became the first foreign leader to visit him in the White House. She told a joint press conference she had extended an invitation from the Queen to Trump and his wife Melania to make a state visit later in the year and was “delighted that the president has accepted that invitation”.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said it would not comment. “We aren’t going to comment on speculation about the contents of private phone conversations. The Queen extended an invitation to President Trump to visit the UK and there is no change to those plans.”

The White House said in statement: “The President has tremendous respect for Prime Minister May. That subject never came up on the call.”

Jenna Johnson, a Washington Post reporter tweeted to say that the White House press secretary had told her the Guardian’s report was “false” but added that the White House “won’t say when Trump plans to go to the UK”.


[From The Guardian]

The Guardian also mentions the fact that Trump attacked London Mayor Sadiq Khan, and that the Trump administration’s diplomatic corps – a corps that has been decimated by mass firings and few replacement nominations – has actually contradicted Trump several times publicly. The current (acting) American ambassador to the UK is Lewis Lukens, who went out of his way to praise Mayor Khan as Trump was insulting Khan last week. Meaning, it’s not like the diplomatic corps is doing much to encourage Trump to travel, nor are they doing much advance work to smooth out his reception if and when he does travel. Added to all of that: Theresa May is now seen as “clinging to power” following her disastrous performance in the snap election last week. She does not have the political capital to waste her time cozying up to an unhinged fascist madman. All in all, I hope the Guardian has it right, and I hope Trump has canceled. I suspect that if he did cancel, it wasn’t because he was self-aware enough to realize that British people would unleash hell on him if he visited though.

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77 Responses to “Donald Trump has reportedly put his trip to Britain ‘on hold’ indefinitely”

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  1. Jeesie says:

    Poor little snowflake.

  2. Prince says:

    Well let’s hope they are right… there are not enough tomatoes for people like him.

    • Who ARE These People? says:

      Ah, but plenty of middle fingers — for free.

      • Pumpkin Pie says:

        Bridget Jones. Bridget Jones should welcome him if this visit happens. That would be witty and amazing and wonderful.

        I wonder if Renée is available for a sketch or smt like that. Free speech.

    • Pumpkin Pie says:

      Rotten tomatoes.

  3. RBC says:

    Saw this coming a mile away. Just watch other countries and allies take their time in extending an invitation to visit.

  4. BearcatLawyer says:

    I wish I could say my “turn your backs while protesting” idea was responsible for this postponement/cancellation. Glad my friends in the U.K. will not be subjected to him though!

  5. SolitaryAngel says:

    Old George looks like he’s giving a magnificent side-eye in the photo!!

    • Carmen says:

      If you mean the portrait, that’s Thomas Jefferson.

    • Lady D says:

      I thought it was George, too. I guess I can’t use being Canadian as an excuse for this one, eh?

    • Tina says:

      Speaking of Georges, it would have been amazing to see Prince George give Trump the same side-eye/open revolt that every other child he’s come into contact with has given him (as opposed to George’s shy but open countenance when he met Obama, wearing tiny bathrobe).

  6. lightpurple says:

    I emailed ShowYourRumptoTrump images to the White House. I believe that helped make the decision to delay.

    • Maria F. says:

      🙂

    • Sixer says:

      By all accounts, that phone call to delay/cancel came weeks ago.

      So delicious for you in that the Orange One wimped out of a visit because he knew we’d make some excellent placards slagging him off and he couldn’t stand the mockery.

      And delicious for me in that the Maybot never mentioned it during the entire election campaign cos of how stupid the rush to invite him made her look, but LOST HER MAJORITY anyway.

      It’s a horrible world so we must take our schadenfreude where we can!

      • Becky says:

        Shame, I was looking forward to “cockwomble” being revisited, on a huge placard

      • Sixer says:

        We’ve got to quickly scramble back to anti-DUP and women’s and gay rights captions now!

      • ORIGINAL T.C. says:

        The man only likes dictators and expects to be met as one with flowers, balloons and proclamations the he is the best President who ever lived, was born of the Virgin Mary, performs miracles daily and has masses kneeing at his feet when he walks by. He even had Sean Spicer read his proclamations that are chillingly similar to proclamations from North Korea.
        https://youtu.be/oQCnBaGcVq8

      • Who ARE These People? says:

        That man would move on the Virgin Mary like a bitch.

  7. Becky says:

    Thank god – I saw this news breaking last night.

    Now that Maybot’s days are numbered, the Tories don’t want another pr nightmare with this visit, the invite for which shouldn’t have been made in the 1st place.

  8. SusanneToo says:

    Congratulations, Brit CBers! You and your compatriots did it. However, it’s a mixed bag-now the POS will be staying here. Does anyone have any influence with Lil Kim to get him an invite to NK? Maybe Pootie can line up some more golden showers.

  9. MunichGirl says:

    He’s bigly angry that the UK doesn’t want to give him a gold medal like Saudi Arabia did.

  10. Aiobhan Targaryen says:

    I love how all these racist pieces of trash are getting their asses handed to them. Dump cannot get away from this Russia story, cannot pass any legislation even though his party has a major majority, cannot stop the leaks/whistleblowing (I am still not sure what the difference is), and he cannot stop digging his own grave.

    I honestly wish it had not come to this, but sometimes the only way real change can be enacted is when people lose things. You don’t know what you got til its gone. Adults should not have to think that way, but it is what it is.

    • Esmom says:

      AT, Amen to your second paragraph. I think you’re absolutely right.

    • BearcatLawyer says:

      In legal parlance, a whistleblower is someone who uncovers wrongdoing and wants it to be stopped.

      A leak is merely an unexpected or unauthorized release of information.

  11. Alex says:

    Lol lucky you U.K. I wish he would indefinitely leave the US

    • jwoolman says:

      Oh, I want him to definitely leave the US for the definite rest of his orange little life… fleeing indictment. 🙂

  12. Va Va Kaboom says:

    Nah, Trump’s protested on the regular here and he keeps coming back. If it were that easy we’d have gotten rid of him one day into his Presidency.

  13. Nanea says:

    If he only were to put his participation at G20 in July on hold too!

    He’s not welcome here in Hamburg/Germany, and the responsible authorities expect up to 100.000 international participants in a demo against the likes of the White House Squatter, Erdoğan, the Maybot and others.

    (… we here in Hamburg hope against hope for peaceful demos, but the local hospitals have declared a pre-emptive state of emergency and employees are banned from taking days off while G20 is in town)

    • Maria F. says:

      yeah, i was thinking of going to Hamburg and protesting, but i am also a bit scared of the to be expected violence.

  14. Sam says:

    I also think by the time he was planning on heading to the UK there might be a new British PM. I’m just glad he isn’t coming to Australia any time soon.

    I was reading in the news that there are heaps of positions that have yet to be filled up by someone. That is ridiculous, the media should be asking him or his press people why he hasn’t filled out these positions yet.

    Is the hearing with the AG (forgot his name) on Tuesday going to be on TV again?

    • Esmom says:

      Sam, yes, hundreds of positions yet to be filled. Trump tried to blame the Democrats for holding up the confirmations, but you can’t confirm if no one has been nominated. I listened to a podcast this weekend that talked about how far behind his administration is in these appointments, likely because of their inexperience. The fear is that if a true crisis occurs, it will likely be exacerbated with no one in charge to help handle it.

      And yes as far as I know Sessions’ hearing will be televised.

      • SusanneToo says:

        Also, anyone with a moral center would refuse to be a part of the most corrupt admin in history. Which means anyone they find will be bottom of the barrel trash.

      • doofus says:

        I think SusanneToo has it right, too. I think he’s blaming the dems because anyone that he floats an offer to is like “uh, no thanks”. he can’t fill the spots that no one wants so he does what he’s done his whole life, blame someone else. the buck NEVER stops with him.

        he couldn’t even get any top DC law firms to sign on to rep him for the whole Russia thing. prob because they know they’ll never get compensated.

      • Sixer says:

        When Trump made those insulting tweets about the Mayor of London, our government was unable to make any diplomatic response properly (not that the useless PM we have would actually have made one but even so…) because you still have no confirmed ambassador to the UK.

    • BearcatLawyer says:

      Filling important positions within his administration requires actual work and careful consideration of multiple candidates. Cheeto Mussolini is not terribly fond of either.

  15. Shambles says:

    But it’s like… what happens when there’s an actual, global crisis? What happens when one of us gets attacked? What happens when we get attacked and we have no allies? It seems like something to snark about now, but it makes me want to barf a little bit

    • IlsaLund says:

      Amurica don’t need nobody in a fight…we’re the greatest country on Earth and everyone else needs to bow down and do what we say…..NOT. So many bridges have been burnt with our allies, I just pray if something does happen, they will support the U.S. and not hold that Orange Mafioso against us.

    • FLORC says:

      Shambles
      This is so very terrifying. This admin has many huge gaps. What is filled is either incompetent, trying to resign, under investigation, or more concerned with self preservation. Anyone worth their salt (If I’m using that correctly) doesn’t want to be associated with the Trump administration.

      And our allies… ffs don’t abandon us!

      If something happens we’re going to crumble.

      Sidenote… I’ve mentioned I had a friend that supports Trump. That they aren’t all awful racists. The other day she spoke poorly of a group and when referencing them called them “coloreds” so… yup. No defending from me anymore.

  16. Radley says:

    Thin-skinned bottomless pit of need–that’s Trump. His ego is both fragile and massive.

  17. Frances says:

    Good. England’s suffered enough.

  18. Rice says:

    He’s afraid of getting a glorious egging like folks did to UKIP on their walkabout here in Stoke-on-Trent during the by-election.

    • Kiki says:

      I was wondering, why haven’t day Egged Nigel Farage. That little piece of trash couldn’t get punched in the face, so instead why not through something at him. Might I suggest feces instead of eggs, that would be AN INSULT EVER.

  19. KikiGer says:

    Aw, diddums. Those nasty Brits are calling me names, so I’m not going to go. So there!
    As one of those nasty Brits, I say, ‘hooray’. Stay where you are and suck on a lollipop.

  20. WendyNerd says:

    He’s putting it off because he didn’t get his bigly golden carriage.

  21. Indiana Joanna says:

    Good work, Great Britain.

    I read only the headline but baby fists’ daughter said in a Fox interview that she is stunned by the vitriol baby fists’ elicits. Really? You and your family ran the dirtiest, most name calling campaign in memory and you’re shocked that people react in kind? You and your monstrous family lie, attack others and expect everyone to look the other way while baby fists and you devour the earth for your own enrichment.

    baby fists and his children are insular and raging entitled brats. They believe they can call London’s mayor vicious names but are shocked when people defend him against baby fists’ hideous, irrational comments. They brought this on themseselves. You have to be majorly detached from other human beings or the biggest liars on earth or both. baby fists poisons everything he touches with his lies and viciousness.

    • Sophia's Side eye says:

      Trump has been pushing himself on the public his entire adult life, he always wanted to be famous, public hatred is the other side of that coin, precious ivanka’s just never seen it. This is no longer just about fame and money, his decisions and actions now have cost actual lives, and she doesn’t get it? F!ck her and her shoes.

      Hats off and applause to the people of the U.K. also!

      • jwoolman says:

        Has Ivanka ever actually listened to her dad when he spoke at the convention and in debates and interviews and at rallies? He’s been rolling in mud and tossing most of it at other people for a very long time. Where did she and her brother get the idea that he’s the big victim? He’s been dishing it out bigly.

      • Sorry, no dignity in that says:

        @ jwoolman

        Ivanka did listen. That is why she tries to turn the tide in his favour. Although the task is too big to be accomplished.

        My father taught me one very useful thing about politicians:

        Never think that politicans were stupid. They are not. They are corrupt and hide that behind seemingly stupid answers and seemingly stupid actions.

        Concerning Trump and Ivanka: yep, they knew they wouldn’t be liked. They know that acting like the victims of insult does put the other party in the position to either excuse or explain the insult. “You have insulted me!” is an accusation. And the Trumps abuse it.

    • doofus says:

      yeah, she was surprised at the viciousness of DC?…

      says the woman whose father mocked a disabled person.

      GFY, you complicit b*tch.

  22. Seriously says:

    ‘Sniggers’

    Three cheers for the UK 🙂

  23. teacakes says:

    I saw the breaking news alert last night and promptly bounced here – it might be small, but ickle Baby Fists running away from his shiny UK trip because he knows the British public will tell him to go stuff himself, is good news to start the week with.

  24. why? says:

    Trump and the GOP are ruining our government. They is dismantling Dodd-Frank and CFPB. If Trump cares for the people, why is he removing regulations that were put in place to protect us?

  25. Tia says:

    ‘I suspect that if he did cancel, it wasn’t because he was self-aware enough to realize that British people would unleash hell on him if he visited though. ‘

    On the contrary – he is a Narcissist, he would not have been able to cope with the idea of demonstrations against him rather than us all fawning in the glory of his brilliance…

  26. tracking says:

    Love it when his cowardice is fully out there for all to see.

  27. Valois says:

    So he doesn’t want to visit a country where they protest against him? That leaves him with… Saudi Arabia? Quatar? North Korea?
    And I’m sure people would love to throw stuff at him over there, they’re simply not allowed to do so.

    European public will never welcome him.

    • jwoolman says:

      Yes, he will have to limit himself to places that decapitate protesters like his good buddies the Saudis.

  28. CatJ says:

    For an interesting read, and a good laugh, read the NYT article about the definition of “idiot”.
    Perfect description.

  29. NtSoSclBtrfly says:

    Poor President Bigly Butthurt is once again… butthurt.

  30. Rapunzel says:

    Anyone else read how Don Jr basically confirmed Comey’s version of that oval office convo? Which contradicts Bigly’s statement that he never said that? Bigly has more important things to worry about than the U.K. disliking him.

    • Beth says:

      Yes. It gets worse for them with every word they say and every tweet they send. Nonstop contradictions. I had to laugh at how huffy puffy pissed he sounded during the interview. Hilarious when he called Comey a politician. The F.B.I Director isn’t a politician, Dumbass Jr!

    • Digital Unicorn (aka Betti) says:

      I think for Bigly its a big deal that the Uk don’t like him as his mother is Scottish. I believe he has sometime referred to Scotland as the ‘motherland’.

      I’m Scottish and am embarrassed that this twit has any ties to my county.

    • Sorry, no dignity in that says:

      Indeed. I doubt the US need Britain as much as Britain needs the US 😉

      Nevertheless Trump is risking loosing the US’ alliance with Britain. Politicians don’t just lose alliances. They either end them or they let them slip away gently or they work to keep them. I doubt that there are solid political reasons to end the US’ alliance with Britain. I think Trump is losing control and that is why he concentrates on essentials. Well, whatever is essential to him and essential in his opinion. Apparently the alliance with Britain isn’t essential?

  31. Digital Unicorn (aka Betti) says:

    Aww and we were going to throw him a bolg ole tea party at Heathrow.

  32. Ozogirl says:

    It’s certainly not their loss… He is such an embarrassment.

  33. why? says:

    It seems like there is a lot of rebranding of Trump going on, which started the day of Comey’s testimony in which the Trump administration used Kristen Welker and Kelly Odonnell to spin that Trump was on his best behavior, didn’t have a meltdown, or tweet the day of Comey’s testimony because his staff kept him very busy. There was increased activity from his son’s twitter account the day that Comey testified, which means that Trump was probably tweeting from his account and then there is the statement from Trump’s lawyer which sounded like it was being written by Trump as he watched Comey’s testimony.

  34. Pip says:

    Reasons to be cheerful:

    Watching the Tories desperately try to cling onto power, anyway, anyhow. (Although the Tory arrogance of the past two years which has got us into this chaos is breath-taking.)

    A softer Brexit on the horizon. Or no Brexit at all ….? One can but dream.

    & Trump bottles it, which makes me burst with pride in my fellow Brits.

    Tiny glimmers of hope after the grimmest of years.

    • jwoolman says:

      John Oliver tried to explain the U.K. election on his last show.

      He (claims to have) brought over Lord Buckethead to end his show, since he was the guy who seemed best suited for the job of Brexit negotiator.

      And Elmo really was in the running! I heard someone mention that but didn’t realize that he actually got a few votes and so was up on the stage to hear the tallies, along with Lord Buckethead and all the others. UK elections seem like so much more fun than ours. And also mercifully shorter. Ours go on forever.

  35. Sorry, no dignity in that says:

    So Trump is dropping May? May is in desparate need of some political international credibility. A visit by the US president would have done the trick. Oh dear. Bad for May.

    But also bad for the USA. Britain’s establishment won’t forget the US president snubbing the British Prime Minister. May won’t forget that. She needs all the help she can get at the moment because she is clinging to power. In an act of desparation she re-installed all those politicians from the preceeding cabinet she had initially kicked out just after her ascend to power. She has to negotiate the Brexit in which Britain is in a very weak position. May is very desparate. And now the US president snubs her in her time of need. That means that the USA are risking their special relationship with Britain. Trump is risking that alliance.

    Well, I am European and I was always somewhat sceptical of that “special relationship”.