Donald Trump UK visit: How US media reported on the President’s trip

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Olivia Tobin3 June 2019

Donald Trump and First Lady Melania have arrived in the UK for their three-day visit, with US media outlets citing “tense relations” between the US and Britain.

The US President arrived at Stansted Airport on Monday morning, after taking a swipe at Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and denying he called Meghan Markle “nasty” in an interview with The Sun.

Media outlets across the pond have been reporting the trip, with mixed opinions.

The New York Times says Mr Trump is visiting Britain "amid tense relations", citing differing positions on the Iran nuclear deal and Huawei.

The paper tells its online readers: "President Trump prides himself on being the great disrupter, but when he arrives in London on Monday for a state visit, it's not clear how much more he can shake up a country that is already convulsed, divided and utterly exhausted by the long debate over its departure from the European Union."

Mr Trump leaves the White House ahead of his UK visit
Getty Images

The paper adds: "Mr Trump's penchant for uncensored opinions and unsolicited advice is likely to capture as many headlines, if history is any guide, as the visit's stately rituals."

CNN refers to comments in which he suggested the Duchess of Sussex was "nasty" and backed Boris Johnson to succeed Theresa May.

The broadcaster, which has been criticised by the president in the past, says Mr Trump "limbered up for his latest overseas trip in typical style, with remarks that risked insulting his royal hosts and by plunging headlong into the country's fraught domestic politics".

It adds: "Most presidents would go out of their way to avoid such sensitive topics at a moment of extreme political stress.

"In Trump's case, they may deepen his already intense unpopularity in Britain ahead of his arrival for a three-day stay on Monday but enhance his global reputation as an unpredictable, disruptive influence."

The Washington Post tells readers Britain appears to be a "reluctant host" for the president.

It says of the pomp and pageantry of the state visit: "It will all be suitably over-the-top. But there is also a sense that British officials are slightly less than enthusiastic about this particular round of state visit grandeur."

The paper adds: "But whatever happens over the next few days, the Queen, one expects, will be as inscrutable as ever."

In an online article for Fox News, commentator James Carafano says "so what" if Mr Trump will not receive a cordial welcome across the board.

"Trump's No. 1 job is to deliver the message, 'Don't worry. Be happy'. Britain will thrive after Brexit, and post-Brexit Britain's 'special relationship' with the US will be as special as ever," he writes.

"Job No. 2 should be to start revitalising what has made the US-UK relationship so special: our joint commitment to transatlantic security that spanned two world wars, a Cold War, and lots of messy stuff in between and after."

Donald Trump arrives in the UK
Sky News

The Los Angeles Times reports on the visit beneath the headline: "Trump heads to London amid Brexit furore and political upheaval in Europe. What could go wrong?"

"If past is prologue, Trump won't resist the urge to weigh in with his own opinions and to align himself with populist, nationalistic leaders he views as strong," an online article says.

"Trump's in-your-face put-down of (Theresa) May last summer, just before they met, reflected the president's indifference to diplomatic norms that world leaders should avoid meddling in another nation's politics while abroad, as well as his tendency to frequently embarrass his foreign hosts."

The New York Post picks up comments by Mr Trump as he left the White House in which he described London mayor Sadiq Khan as a "shorter" version of his counterpart in the Big Apple.

The paper tells readers: "The president made the remarks ahead of his flight to London, where he said has no intention to meet with Khan - who recently called Trump a 'global threat'."

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