Is he or isn't he?

[newcastle]

Is Trump coming on a state visit, or isn't he?

Various newspapers have claimed he backed out of the visit during a recent call to Theresa May.

Her officials are declining to comment.

The White House denies the visit was ever mentioned.

Who to believe?

In a vicious op-ed the Guardian slams into Trump :

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... e-visit-uk

and ends with :

"Trump – not the US – is a hostile, dangerous power. May, or her successor, should recognise the threat he poses and rescind his invitation to make a state visit to Britain this autumn."

Whilst I agree wholeheartedly on their comments, I'm afraid rescinding the visit is just not on. It would be seen, rightly, as a slap in the face for our closest ally...America.

Having rather stupidly invited him, May (or perhaps her successor) will have to go through the motions of a State visit.

He's going to get a lot of stick from the British public. If he had any sense, he'd take the pragmatic line and excuse himself.

Unfortunately, he'll probably revel in the opprobrium....bad news all round. There's no way we can extricate ourselves from what is likely to end in a diplomatic incident of some kind.

Thank you Theresa. That's another fine mess you got us into.

[crewmeal]

Believe it when it happens.

[carrie]

He's not coming, he thinks that it would be better for him to delay his visit till the British people are prepared to welcome him, so the Queen can rest easily now she wont have to be pleasant to this obnoxious man.

[newcastle]

He's not coming, he thinks that it would be better for him to delay his visit till the British people are prepared to welcome him, so the Queen can rest easily now she wont have to be pleasant to this obnoxious man.

If he had any sense, he'd take the pragmatic line and excuse himself.

Seems he does have some sense! Wonders will never cease

Presumably he decided the press reports, concerning the 'frosty' reception he'd face, weren't "fake news"

[crewmeal]

He could always sneak into his resort near Aberdeen for a holiday and nip next door to Balmoral

[newcastle]

He could always sneak into his resort near Aberdeen for a holiday and nip next door to Balmoral

Better not try it after the Glorious Twelfth.

HM's gillies are good shots

[Hafiz]

I'm no fan of Trump but the outrage by liberals is a bit confected.

The UK has given full state visits, gilded coach, silly toffs on horses, B and B at Buck House, State Banquet to some of the most evil people in the world and no one, including the people who are now getting stirred up, ever kicked up a fuss at the time. Think of all those murderous African tyrants (otherwise known as honorable members of the Commonwealth) who got the full service.

As for the faux sympathy for the Queen - everytime she goes to a meeting of the Commonwealth she meets more murderers and crooks that an FBI agent will in a lifetime. Maybe those who now want to protect her from Trump should demand she remove herself in the future from these evil Commonwealth contacts.

Amongst the worst was Ceaușescu of Romania, a murderous tyrant, who responded to hospitality by stealing a priceless 18th century French clock from his Buck House State Bedroom. Wasn't Kenyatta, the Mau Mau terrorist leader who drove the UK out of Kenya, given a full State Visit? Didn't his killers murder innocent British farmers et al?

As far as I'm aware Trump rates low on the murder/tyrant list so I think everyone should quieten down and realize that diplomacy is generally doing deals with terrible people you don't much like - like the French - and you do it because it is in your interest. It was ever thus and the only looser out of bad UK behavior will be the UK interest. Someone will need to muzzle Charles.

This man is mad enough to turn off Trident - the UK don't have the source codes to their missiles or subs - so you need to be nice to him. I also think the US has exclusive control over the source codes to all UK nuclear bombs. Will need to check the latter point.

[newcastle]

Hafiz is right in that worse characters than Trump have been accorded state visits.

In addition to Ceausescu , there was the awful Mobutu of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). A homicidal dictator who pillaged $15 million of state funds. Robert Mugabe came...although that was before he drove his country over the cliff economically-speaking and made slagging off the UK into a personal pastime . I don't think Kenyatta came on a state visit....but he has been here as a Commonwealth head.

I think the difference with Trump is that the others were 'remote' figures as far as most of the public were concerned. Any protests would have been muted affairs.

Trump, on the other hand, is almost one of us. White caucasian. Speaks the same language....sort of.

And he's had 24/7 coverage for over a year from hostile media, here and abroad. Is there anyone in the UK who hasn't heard of this guy....and what they've heard has generally been uncomplimentary. To put it mildly.

It's not so much that Trump is as bad as some of his predecessors - he's not - but the public have been whipped into a frenzy of 'dislike' which is quite likely to manifest itself in some embarrassing incident. The media coverage would be grim.

The British government doesn't need him here..to save themselves, rather than him, from embarrassment.

[Hafiz]

You are right. the murderous and corrupt Kenyatta did not get a state Visit. His murderous and even more corrupt successor, Moi, did.

Mugabe is worse that you think. At the time of his visit he had set his North Korean Presidential guard on a killing spree in the South to exterminate opposition to his Northern tribal rule. There is a good argument that it fitted the legal definition of a genocide. About 20,000 were killed for political purposes. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7388214.stm. This would have been well known in high circles. Why the west has taken so long to turn on this monster I don't know. He hasn't turned bad - he was bad from day one but we forgot to pay attention.

Mubarak got a state visit.

There is a wiki list of state visits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_s ... izabeth_II

Its interesting because there have been so few from the US, so many from crack-pot nothings and, I suggest, an obvious trade focus - particularly in the Middle East. The infrequency from Commonwealth countries is striking.

Missing are State Visits from Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc. Reason, you can't have a state visit unless you send a head of state and their head of state already resides in London.

I would have thought that Trump would be hungry for any good press at the moment and this is a real opportunity for the UK government to give him something he needs.

On the Scot-Trump golf course there is a rollicking 2011 doco which tells you everything you need to know about his (ill fated) business practices and what happens to his 1 metre hair piece (what is the correct word for the curled long arranged hair?) in a high wind. Its really funny - but not very funny for the affected Scots: Salmond's obsequiousness is cringe worthy. Apparently there has been a 2016 follow up: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 83311.html

[newcastle]

I would have thought that Trump would be hungry for any good press at the moment and this is a real opportunity for the UK government to give him something he needs.

Isn't the point - and the reason his visit is "on hold" - precisely because the press coverage , at least on this side of the pond, would be appalling?

What can the UK government give him that he needs ? Planning permission for a golf course in Regents Park? A new toupée?

He might be alright if we had Egyptian-like press control and some sycophantic rags to laud his presence....but we don't.

The MSM in US are not fans either and are unlikely to suppress any adverse reaction to his visit if he comes.

It's a no-brainer......which leads one to suspect he might yet come

[Hafiz]

No its not a toupee. Its a long strand of the person's own hair which is curled around and around and then plastered into place. Thats why he always travels with a hairdresser/plasterer. I think I'm right in saying that this long bit of fuzz is living hair connected to his follicles.

What is the word. You sometimes see old Greeks do it. An appalling old Greek hairdresser I used to go to had a metre or so wound around his head. It looked awful, he was an awful person and an dreadful barber. He dyed his horrible living thing.

I don't think Trump cares about the Fleet Street coverage it would be the US coverage that would be his only interest. A creative UK government would offer him photo ops: crying at the Diana memorial, meeting old UK soldiers, visiting his mothers poverty stricken Scot village, praying in the Abby, laying a wreath at a war memorial, something to connect him with Thatcher and Churchill (well it isn't as if they could refuse) etc. Providing it was all cordoned off from the public, he used helicopters and arranged only because it looked good on TV I think it could be very well handled entirely for mutual benefit. I'm serious - you might think I'm joking but I am definitely not. Offer him something he desperately needs - images of statesmanship and connections with glorious history.

In addition his message of a manufacturing resurgence, the virtues of Brexit, an infrastructure recovery and a crackdown on immigration might go down well in certain parts of the UK. I'm sure a large local audience could be assembled for such speeches.

You forget that at least one Fleet Street proprietor, and owner of Sky, would give him fabulous coverage and I don't think he would be the only one. BTW isn't also the Independent, or is it the Observer, owned by a Russian oligarch? I think will have sycophantic rags in this case.

[newcastle]

You forget that at least one Fleet Street proprietor, and owner of Sky, would give him fabulous coverage and I don't think he would be the only one. BTW isn't also the Independent, or is it the Observer, owned by a Russian oligarch?

You may be right...although he'd have a hard job ramming it down the throats of his Sun readership. Murdoch also owns The Times/The Sunday Times via News Corp UK.

The Independent is owned by Evgeny Levedev via Independent Print Limited (he also owns Evening Standard Ltd.)

The Observer (like its sister paper The Guardian) is ultimately owned by The Scott Trust...with its left wing, liberal agenda. No joy for Trump there.

The eponymous New York Observer is owned by Jared Kushner so I expect they'd be onboard.

[Major Thom]

Ah Donald Buttbubble another idiot waiting to dodge the bullet.

[HEPZIBAH]

Well it would appear from the Queen's Speech that he will not be visiting the UK anytime soon, well not for a state function anyway. He took so long confirming that Her Majesty has now filled her few spare dates in her diary with more stimulating company.