A ludicrous image from Trump’s second state visit to the United Kingdom disturbed me. I watched him being given a ride around the empty lanes of the Windsor Estate in a golden ceremonial coach. It illustrated that the leader of the western world is a little boy that likes treats. If one accepts that assessment, much of his erratic behaviour is explained.
Take his naive approach to diplomacy. Because he is rich and famous, he usually gets his way, and seemingly no one challenges even his wildest ideas. He really believes that if he meets Vladimir Putin face-to-face, and butters him up on a red carpet, and takes nice photos, he can persuade him to leave Ukraine. When Putin, having had a lovely time on the world stage in Alaska, goes away and kills more innocent people, Trump is hurt that “he has really let me down”.
Children have to be taught that certain rules of behaviour must be followed if they are to get what they want. That lesson has not got through to little Donald.
Trump wanted to stop immigration, so he sent in the army. He advised Keir Starmer to do the same in the UK. “It doesn’t matter what means you use,” he said. At rallies, he tells his dedicated followers that he has completely stopped people “invading” his great country. He illustrates this triumph with a film of near-naked men, shackled and chained, thrown on their knees, having their hair violently shaved off. This process is greeted with ecstatic cheers. The little boy has pleased his grown-ups. After all, the people he has put in cages are rapists, murderers and from mental institutions—and they haven’t got the right papers, so they deserve to be punished.
Sometimes, Trump abhors cruelty. During a press conference in Windsor, he told of his horror at seeing the obscene film taken by the Hamas sadists as they invaded Israel on 7th October 2023. “I wish I hadn’t seen them, actually,” he said. That haunting shock seems to be the main reason why he will not intervene to stop the subsequent genocide in Gaza. He seldom mentions the suffering of the Palestinians. Instead, he has a real-estate plan to move them to a nice area in another country, so he can build a beautiful riviera resort where their homes were. The demolition is already done.
He wants people to love him. That’s why he doesn’t discuss business at cabinet meetings and instead sits with his anxious team at a big table, and everyone, in turn, tells him what a good boy he is. He has after all stopped six—or is it seven?—wars, including World War One and Two, as well as one between “Azerbaijan and Albania” that many of us did not know of. He probably explained this claim in his phone call to Norway, to discuss getting the Nobel Peace Prize.
Trump’s state visit to England was everything a needy child could wish for. The British royals have untold wealth, aristocratic solidarity and subtle power. They have that thing he could not hope to buy, but they were elegantly sharing with him: class.
The world’s press waited for him to make an idiot of himself, but he seemed to be really enjoying himself. When asked in an interview if he trusted one of his colleagues, there was a long pause before he said, “I trust no one”; but I suspect he recognises that decent men like Starmer and King Charles are too well-mannered to stab him in the back.
Like most good American children, Trump believes in God. Why would he not, when the Lord has brought him back into office to make America great again and then saved his life from an assassination attempt? He and his gang are convinced God is on their side. At his inauguration, he did not take kindly to the bishop of Washington, Mariann Edgar Budde, condemning “the culture of contempt that has become normalised in our country”. She asked for consideration for the weak and vulnerable, but the faces of JD Vance and Trump made it clear that this was not their kind of religion. “Vengeance is mine” is more their style.
Children often threaten revenge when they’re hurt—“I’ll pay you back for that”. Trump is no exception. He has tried to throw out his opponents in justice, universities and the arts, and even to get rid of comedians who have been rude about him.
He has rather ominously sent federal troops into Washington, which he has falsely said is riddled with crime. Remember his seething rage at the inauguration speech of Bishop Budde? It makes me wonder about his real motivation. Unlike his lapdogs, and our grovelling British government, I have a feeling she will stand up to his lethal childish tantrums.
