Great Britain and the United States have had a “special relationship” since before the US entered World War II. That special relationship has seen our two countries through many presidents and prime ministers of many different backgrounds and political ideologies. But that relationship is in tatters right now, because the Sh-thole Dictator is here and Theresa May literally has no idea what to say to him or how to negotiate with a madman. Bloomberg did an interesting story on the “dysfunctional relationship” of Trump and May, which you can read here. They detail how May was eager to normalize Trump and flatter him to get what she wanted, but he was too stupid and too petty to even accept the flattery. There’s a lot of insider-y stuff about May’s government too, and it definitely feels like her people are talking/whispering to the press about her inability to “handle” Trump… which, to be fair, no one can handle him. Some interesting pieces of this article:

Trump wanted Nigel Farage to be the new British ambassador to the US. May shut it down.

UK security officials knew Trump’s danger. May was repeatedly warned to not cozy up to Trump, at least not immediately. She ignored them.

When May & Trump first met, he barely let her speak. Trump held forth on a wide range of topics. “The president had strong views on all of them,” recalls Chris Wilkins, then May’s strategy director, who was among the aides around the table. “He said Brexit’s going to be the making of us. It’s going to be a brilliant thing.” Trump turned to May and told her he believed there were parts of London that were effectively “no-go areas” due to the number of Islamic extremists. May chose to speak up to “correct him,” Wilkins said. Trump also discussed his British golf courses and his hopes that the relationship with May would be stronger than the Thatcher-Reagan alliance. “It was an hour of the president holding court and the PM being very diplomatic and not many other people saying anything,” Wilkins said.

Trump barely lets her speak on phone calls too: During formal phone calls between the two leaders, May finds it almost impossible to make headway and get her points across, one person familiar with the matter said. Trump totally dominates the discussion, leaving the prime minister with five or ten seconds to speak before he interrupts and launches into another monologue.

He thinks she has the ability to shut down the British tabloids’ gossip about him. In one phone conversation during 2017, Trump complained to May over the criticism he’d been getting in British newspapers. Amid warnings that Trump would face protests in the streets when he arrived, he told the prime minister he would not be coming to the U.K. until she could promise him a warm welcome. May responded to say such treatment was simply the way the British press operate, and there wasn’t much she could do. In the secure bunker underneath the prime minister’s office, her advisers listened in to the call in astonishment at Trump’s demand.

The wedding invitation. Even if May and Trump patch things up on the slopes of Davos, there’s a cloud on the horizon: another royal invitation. This time it’s to the wedding of the Queen’s grandson, Prince Harry, and American actor Meghan Markle. None has been forthcoming. But if Trump does make it, at least he might know some of the possible guests: Prince Harry’s famous friends include Barack and Michelle Obama.

[From Bloomberg]

And we thought we had it bad when we were dealing with George W. Bush and Tony Blair, right? My God. I mean, none of this is breaking news of course: we know Trump is stupid and petty. We know he wishes he could be a despot, that he expects democratically elected leaders to shut down criticism in the press. We know he’s a superficial idiot who regurgitates Fox News talking points too – the “no go” areas in London is exactly the kind of half-remembered Fox News segment that Trump would use to “prove” something.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid and Pacific Coast News.