Kowtowing to Trump

OldFrill

Boz

Jaberwok

Oh dear merlotgran, why the cheap jibe? Surely you're better than that?
D.T is apparently planning a visit to Scotland later this year, and has been invited, by the King, to stay at Balmoral to discuss among other things, the impending state visit. I.guess Starmer needs help in dealing with Trump, and the King is the diplomatic person to smooth the way.

Merlotgran was just trying to inject a little humour; no malice intended, I am sure, from this nice lady.
The King is doing his job; let's hope somebody in the RF plays golf.

Andrew is the only golfer

Wow. Andrew's time has come.

Boz

Jaberwok

Oh dear merlotgran, why the cheap jibe? Surely you're better than that?
D.T is apparently planning a visit to Scotland later this year, and has been invited, by the King, to stay at Balmoral to discuss among other things, the impending state visit. I.guess Starmer needs help in dealing with Trump, and the King is the diplomatic person to smooth the way.

Merlotgran was just trying to inject a little humour; no malice intended, I am sure, from this nice lady.
The King is doing his job; let's hope somebody in the RF plays golf.

Andrew is the only golfer

Jaberwok

Oh dear merlotgran, why the cheap jibe? Surely you're better than that?
D.T is apparently planning a visit to Scotland later this year, and has been invited, by the King, to stay at Balmoral to discuss among other things, the impending state visit. I.guess Starmer needs help in dealing with Trump, and the King is the diplomatic person to smooth the way.

Merlotgran was just trying to inject a little humour; no malice intended, I am sure, from this nice lady.
The King is doing his job; let's hope somebody in the RF plays golf.

merlotgran

^Charles’ handwritten invite was a master stroke^

Especially if it was written in his best spidery writing with his leaky, ‘stinking’ pen! 😂

You could see how chuffed DT was with the letter.

“That’s quite a signature!”

(Not too worried about the spidery writing). 😂

I think some minion will be busy framing it for posterity.

Oh dear merlotgran, why the cheap jibe? Surely you're better than that?
D.T is apparently planning a visit to Scotland later this year, and has been invited, by the King, to stay at Balmoral to discuss among other things, the impending state visit. I.guess Starmer needs help in dealing with Trump, and the King is the diplomatic person to smooth the way.

I do not envy Starter in this impossible situation. It looks to me as if he has played it as well as anyone could.

madeleine45

How cringemaking to see Starmer having to smarm up to Trump. He has earned his money for sure. When foreign policy is decided by what you can give a selfcentred misogynist, who acts like a two year old in a temper tantrum. Still Starmer had the best toy. He could wave an invitation to see the king. Trump couldnt miss that chance could he?

As for "helping" other countries, since when does it count as help if you are then asked to pay for it with anything this greedy lot think they should have.?

Excuse me while I go and be sick.

This isn't an adult who watched the actual speeches is it?

fancythat

Mollygo

Barleyfields

Of course Trump wanted his State visit. He’s a shallow narcissist. We knew an invitation would be forthcoming so there’s no brownie points for Starmer in that. It remains to be seen how Trump will treat the UK after he’s had his ego stroked with pomp and pageantry. He wouldn’t queer his pitch before that. I wouldn’t trust him an inch.

You only have to listen to Trump’s “did I say that?” to know that anything he says is not to be trusted.

I only what and read snippets of things, in compared to some.

When I have heard Trump say that, I had assumed that he meant he hadnt said whatever it was.

And it was the media or journalists who had got things wrong.

Fancythat
Here’s the clip of him saying it.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2025/feb/27/did-i-say-that-donald-trump-denies-calling-zelenskyy-a-dictator-video

Charles’ handwritten invite was a master stroke

Especially if it was written in his best spidery writing with his leaky, ‘stinking’ pen! 😂

The Times claims it ‘A Triumph’

Jaberwok

One of our trump cards? The monarchy is our only trump card and in this respect has always served us extremely well. It is also in this instance, D.T's Achilles heel and that invitation is worth a great deal to him, which gives us soft leeverage. For those anti monachists, without this soft leverage, we would, on the world stage be of little consequence.

Very true. If his weakness for the RF and the cachet of State visits saves us from the sort of tariffs the EU look likely to suffer they are a very valuable asset,

nanna8 It’s still early days for Starmer- although not a fan, 🪭 he might be settling into the role a bit. We probably don’t have anyone better do we?
Kemi Badenoch is not an improvement on Sunak imo but he probably can’t be bothered to fight the Tories. In fact, it’s all a bit sad here ….

Physical security arrangements surrounding this State visit will be very thorough. I think the Americans take charge of this. I wonder if the trip will go ahead or be cancelled further down the line on health grounds or for security reasons? I suppose William and Kate will play a leading role if it happens.

I think this is one of the first things Starmer has done that deserves praise. What choice did he have anyway? If he showed aggression and rudeness the UK would suffer heavily. No, he handled it well. I still think he is a lousy PM but that is my opinion and I realise very much in the minority on GN. I also like certain aspects of Trump and I sincerely believe he wants peace in Ukraine and Gaza, too. I thought old Biden was a shocker.

Before we get too excited Trump hasn’t actually signed anything yet and until he does we need to be wary. ATM it’s just a good start.

One of our trump cards? The monarchy is our only trump card and in this respect has always served us extremely well. It is also in this instance, D.T's Achilles heel and that invitation is worth a great deal to him, which gives us soft leeverage. For those anti monachists, without this soft leverage, we would, on the world stage be of little consequence.

Calendargirl

All those on GN who moan about the monarchy will have to admit, it’s the main ‘trump’ card we hold.

Charles’ handwritten invite was a master stroke.

👑

When it comes to Trump they’re our secret weapon. He so wants to be seen with them.

Yes dragonfly - I hold my hands up!

I’m an anti-royalist but, I agree, the King has pulled it out of the bag here. Glad to see the royals earning their money!

I think Keir Starmer did very well and I am not particularly a Labour supporter.
Trump is more than a business man than a politician and he doesn't mince his words but considering the amount of power he has and the present state of the world much better to have him onside.
Trump does say some outrageous things but he certainly stirs things up and if this gets good results then all the better.

Starmer took the knee before.

I am not a fan of Keir Starmer but I think he did a good job under difficult circumstances.
For all those anti-royalists out there, the royals have served us well.

The 'state visit' isn't until 2028 so plenty of time for Trump to have a tantrum before that. Clever of Charles to offer one but not til then. However Scotland absolutely does not want Trump here, planning a visit or swanning about a golf course, so Charles can take Balmoral of the agenda

Yes I think that is a valid point Calendargirl and I am not particularly pro monarchy.

Yes his was more throne like. As an aside, antique pairs of chairs were often made male and female. The male chair was the larger one. I suspect these chairs were an antique pair.

I imagined there would be many crossed fingers behind backs on the UK side during the meeting with Trump. I bet Starmer’s tongue is sore today from biting it.

Was it my imagination or an optical illusion that Trump’s yellow chair was larger than the one Starmer sat in?