As we reported yesterday, the British ambassador to the United States, Kim Darroch, made headlines because memos in which he blasted President Trump for being “dysfunctional” and “inept” were leaked to the media.
When asked about these memos, President Trump initially played it cool. He could, Trump said, say quite a lot about the ambassador, but he would refrain from doing so.
Later in the day, however, the president clearly changed his mind, because he suddenly did strike back. With a vengeance… and not only at ambassador Darroch but also at British Prime Minister Theresa May.
“I have been very critical about the way the U.K. and Prime Minister Theresa May handled Brexit,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “What a mess she and her representatives have created. I told her how it should be done, but she decided to go another way. I do not know the ambassador, but he is not liked or well… thought of within the U.S. We will no longer deal with him.”
“The good news for the wonderful United Kingdom is that they will soon have a new prime minister,” he went on. “While I thoroughly enjoyed the magnificent State Visit last month, it was the Queen who I was most impressed with!”
We were all waiting for such a response and boy, we weren’t disappointed. This is classic Trump: aggressive, angry, feisty, but also right. After all, there is absolutely no need for a sitting U.S. president to take flack from a UK ambassador.
As I wrote yesterday, if Boris Johnson does succeed May as prime minister, he’d better fire Darroch and replace him with someone who is less hostile to the U.S. president. If he doesn’t, the relationship between the two countries could get strained, which is far more problematic for Britain than for the United States.
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