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By Alexander Smith
LONDON — When President Donald Trump visited the United Kingdom last summer, he was greeted by mass protests.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in demonstrations across the country, many carrying anti-Trump signs daubed with typically dry and lewd British humor. The pièce de résistance was a giant inflatable "Trump baby" — a 20-foot blimp showing a bawling commander-in-chief wearing a diaper.
And that was meant to be a relatively low-key "working trip" for the president. So what will happen this summer when Trump returns for a full state visit?
On Tuesday, Buckingham Palace announced that the president will travel again to British shores in June, but this time on the official invitation of Queen Elizabeth II — with all the trappings and ceremony that a state visit entails.
So, if anything, the protests this time will be even more fierce.
Senior figures in the opposition Labour Party are campaigning to have the state visit canceled altogether, a position previously adopted by Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, and John Bercow, the speaker of the House and Commons.
Giving a flavor of the feeling against the president, one of these lawmakers, David Lammy, described Trump in a tweet as "deluded, dishonest, xenophobic" and "narcissistic." Another, Stephen Doughty, labeled him "racist, sexist" and "extremist."
Emily Thornberry, one of Labour's most senior lawmakers and would-be foreign secretary under a Labour government, said Trump had "systematically assaulted all the shared values that unite our two countries." She said Prime Minister Theresa May had "no business wasting taxpayers' money on all the pomp, ceremony and policing costs that will come with this visit."
This could all add up to a somewhat frosty reception from what is supposed to be the U.S.' closest ally.
Khan has been one of the most senior opponents of Trump in the U.K. and in January 2018 said he represented "the polar opposite of our city's values of inclusion, diversity and tolerance."
Trump himself then responded to this, calling him "pathetic" and saying he did a "terrible job" at dealing with the London Bridge terror attack in June 2017. Some of Khan's supporters believe that Trump focused on him because he is a Muslim.
While Khan may these days be using more diplomatic language, he has yet to retract any of his criticisms. A spokesperson for the mayor told NBC News in an email Wednesday that while "Sadiq's views about Donald Trump are well known ... he of course understands the importance of the president visiting to commemorate D-Day."
Arriving June 3, the president and first Lady Melania Trump will likely be greeted by a lavish ceremony and a banquet with the Queen and 150 distinguished guests. Then on June 5 they will attend a ceremony in the southern coastal city of Portsmouth to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
Last time around, Trump did briefly have tea with the Queen, but that was at Windsor Castle some 20 miles outside London city center. His trip seemed specifically designed so he could zip around in his helicopter and entirely avoid the demonstrations raging in the heart of the city.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/what-trump-can-expect-his-british-state-visit-n997921
2019-04-24 13:50:00Z
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