Despite unhappiness about Donald Trump’s visit to the United Kingdom outside the castle walls, the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman and Sean McCreesh reported the American president is highly enjoying his respite from the troubles he left behind in the U.S. as he hobnobs with royalty and the wealthy.
But, they noted, that will soon come to a crashing end. Back home, the U.S. is embroiled by Trump’s militarization of cities, a culture war raging over the shooting of far-right commentator Charlie Kirk, ICE agents grabbing immigrants off the streets and a looming government shutdown.
For the moment, the Times is reporting, “Britain’s aim is clear: The royals were working in tandem with the British government, lavishing attention and honors on the president on Wednesday so that he might be more pliable in negotiations with America’s oldest ally in his diplomatic meeting with the prime minister on Thursday.”
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The report went on to note that there were hints of the troubles outside the banquet hall with billionaire media baron Rupert Murdoch, an occasional Trump antagonist also in attendance despite his Wall Street Journal lately taking the lead on breaking news on Trump’s relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
“Mr. Murdoch’s position in the banquet hall was far enough down the table that he was out of the president’s field of vision, and yet, he was still there, sitting through a speech about Mr. Trump’s greatness,” the Times is reporting before adding, “Outside those castle gates, Mr. Trump must return to a world that does not necessarily see him — or at least, will not necessarily treat him — the same way that the mighty men and women gathered at Windsor Castle did.”
Referring to a recent confrontation Trump had with protesters when he ventured out of the White House for dinner in militarized Washington, D.C., Haberman and her writing partner suggested that is the reality the president will once again be returning to.
“Still, in Britain, the night before the state dinner, protesters beamed images of Mr. Trump socializing with Mr. Epstein onto the walls of the castle, a reminder of the political furor that awaits him back home,” they wrote before cautioning, “After all, fortresses are designed to keep the world out. And no banquet lasts forever.”
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