United States and the United Kingdom: between love and hate

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President Donald Trump and his family spent three days in the United Kingdom. This is what his visit left

Two dynasties of very different types met at the House of Windsor and Buckingham Palace during the past week. The Trump family came to visit a country that is not going through its best, after the resigned of Theresa May, and also, the visit occurs right in the middle of a controversial debate on climate change, an issue with which the president Trump has given much to talk about.

Leer en español: Estados Unidos y Reino Unido: entre amores y odios

Each time the Queen receives a visit, it is accompanied by ceremonies, events and tours around the city as an excuse to talk about topics of interest to the Nation. These events were, also, Theresa May's last act as prime minister, since she left office just after, on Friday, June 7.

On this occasion, taking into account the situation in the United Kingdom with the uncertainty of the Brexit and what it holds for the country in general in the near future, the visit could serve as a way to strengthen relations that, since years ago, even from the first world war, have been turbulent and full of ups and downs. But that, after all, leaves them as allies through history, which is why they offered at the Royal banquet. As for the reason for the visit to Trump, ensuring good relations with this country could be a way to soften the terrain for possible re-election.

You may be interested to read: Theresa May resigns her position

Precisely because of this, May said, according to the Deutsche Welle, that this was an "opportunity to strengthen our already close relationship in areas such as trade, investment, security and defense, and to discuss how we can build on these ties in the next years." The statement could also give clues to an attempt to secure good commercial terms to show the English a good economic performance, thus increasing confidence in leaving the European Union.

What the visit left

Criticisms of the mayor of London, a silenced opposition and protests in the streets were some of the things left by the visit of the president of the United States.

Even before the American president stepped on British soil, the controversies had already begun. He did not want to wait, and from his flight, he tweeted, without any hesitation, that the mayor of London was a "loser" and that he had done a terrible job in his work.

Days before the arrival of the Trump family, Mayor Sadiq Khan had written in a column of opinion his disagreement with the visit of the US president to his country, even more, he questioned the need to receive it "with red carpet". In his criticism, he assured that Trump" does not represent British values […], represents far-right policies," according to CNN.

But this was just the beginning. As in his last visit, in 2018, the protests did not stop around the country. In front of the Buckingham Palace, hundreds of citizens met with posters rejecting Trump and his visit and criticizing his role in a nuclear war, climate change, among other issues.

"We are protesting against Trump's state visit, but also against the politics of hatred and division, corporate greed, the denial of the climate crisis, the scapegoating of migrants and refugees, the increase in racism, the attacks against transgender people and homosexuals that we are seeing here in the United Kingdom, in the United States, throughout Europe, in Brazil, in India and elsewhere," said DW Shaista Aziz of the Stop Trump Coalition. "An unsuccessful prime minister will host a failed president next week in Downing Street," the organizer said.

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Considering what CNN called the president's meddling in internal affairs, "in the Conservative Party contest to find a new prime minister and in the paralyzing debate in Britain about the abandonment of the European Union," it was to be expected that his visit caused rejection, and not only in ordinary citizens, but also in the political sector. This ended up confronting the conservative party with the Labor party.

The fact that Donald Trump publicly supported Boris Johnson as the ideal candidate to succeed Theresa May, aroused Labor's fury. For his part, Jeremy Corbyn, leader of that party, refused to share the table with the president. But he was not the only one, the Speaker of the House of Commons said before the visit that he refused Trump to address all the deputies in a session, which Obama did, according to what he says. The country.

The truth is that the so-called "intrusion" of Trump, ended up awakening a turbulent sea in British politics, which lately has been presenting complications.

LatinAmerican Post | Juliana Suárez

Translated from "Estados Unidos y Reino Unido: entre amores y odios"