At last year's Bastille Day parade in Paris President Trump took center stage as the guest of honor of French President Macron. It was then that the British were put on notice that they'd better step it up for an upcoming Trump visit. That visit was delayed several times but finally happened this week. It was worth the wait.
Even those Londoners who don't pay much attention to such things could tell something unique was happening. Foregoing much of the usual presidential motorcade Trump used a fleet of presidential helicopters to get around the region. The leftist hate Trump media that would have complained about the traffic mess resulting from the motorcade complained instead that the helicopters were frightening children. No, I won't link to those sites. But suffice to say that the city which survived the Nazi blitz would hardly be terrified by a few helicopters.
Here's the scene of the presidential fleet hovering over Parliament Hill:
The Trump's stayed at Winfield House, a beautiful residence set in 12 acres and part of Regent's Park. It's the official residence of the U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood Johnson. Johnson's wife Suzanne is a personal friend of First Lady Melania Trump going back to their days in New York City.
Below the two women share a moment at Winfield House shortly after the First Couple's arrival on Thursday:
Later that day the First Couple stepped out to the helicopter on their way to a gala dinner at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire:
What an entrance. What a view! Arrival by helicopter gave the Trump's an incredible view of the Palace and the English countryside:
Red carpet welcome at the Palace:
The President and First Lady were greeting by Prime Minister Teresa May and her husband Philip. Video of the arrival ceremony is here.
On Friday, it was business with Prime Minister May greeting Trump at Chequers, the Prime Minister's official country residence in Buckinghamshire. Like the previous meeting at Blenheim, there was a lot of hand holding between May and Trump:
May has had a bit of a rough patch lately with the mutiny of many in her party objecting to her weak plan to disentangle Britain from the maw of the European Union. Trump hit on the sore point in a hard hitting interview with the Sun newspaper in which he seemed to suggest that a soft Brexit would make it more difficult to get a more favorable trade deal with the United States.
Trump walked some of that back on Friday at their joint press conference. Trump said "whatever you do is OK by us." Instead of frowns it was smiles all around:
PRESIDENT TRUMP [full transcript]: "So I would say I give our relationship, in terms of grade, the highest level of special. So we start off with special. I would give our relationship with the UK — and now, especially after these two days with your Prime Minister, I would say the highest level of special. Am I allowed to go higher than that? I’m not sure. (Laughter.) But it’s the highest level of special. They are very special people. It’s a very special country. And as I said, I have a relationship because my mother was born in Scotland. So, very important."
Meeting with the Prime Minister and staff took place indoors:
Next, off to Windsor, by helicopter of course and tea with the Queen.
Meanwhile, First Lady Melania Trump wearing a dress by British designer Victoria Beckham stopped by the Royal Chelsea home for old age military pensioners. She was escorted by Prime Minister May's husband Philip. Melania joined in a game of lawn bowling with children from St George’s Church of England primary school.
The First Lady even got a "high five" from one of the Chelsea Pensioners:
Tea with the Queen
The highlight of the day had to be the welcome by Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle. A more relaxed venue than the high profile meeting at Chequers there was nonetheless duty for Trump to perform in inspecting the guard of honor:
Now that the ceremony and business of the President's trip to England is over he jets off to Scotland for some relaxation and preparation for his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Since he's spent the last days successfully urging NATO members to pay more for their own defense and chastising Germany for giving billions to Russia in exchange for energy that meeting should be interesting. Remind me, who is Putin's puppet?
Anti-Trump protesters tie up London and make a mess. Churchill would be appalled!
On the same day Trump was trying to spare Londoners the traffic tie up of a presidential visit, the Trump haters were busy doing that themselves in central London. Showing utter disregard for the special relationship cultivated by former Prime Minister Winston Churchill these Trump haters flew a balloon of a Trump baby in Parliament square next to Churchill's statue:
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| As Churchill left office after his second time as Prime Minister he strongly admonished those who followed him in office "never be separated from the Americans." He would be disgusted by the show of disrespect on display today! |
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