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Less Than 24 Hours Into His UK Trip, Trump Has Already Started A Rift With Theresa May

Natalie Gil
Last Updated July 13, 2018, 1:41 PM
Photo: Geoff Pugh / Getty Images
President Donald Trump has been in the U.K. for less than 24 hours, but he's managed to rile up certain sections of the British public even more than usual.
In an interview with The Sun, published on Thursday night, he made several controversial remarks laying into the country, its politics and its people.
Theresa May's Brexit plan, he said, would "probably kill" any future trade deal with the U.S., because it's "a much ­different deal than the one the people voted on"; he slammed London Mayor Sadiq Khan for doing "a very bad job on terrorism” and crime, and letting too many migrants in to the city; he claimed Europe is "losing [its] culture" because of immigration; that Boris Johnson, who resigned as foreign secretary this week to ample criticism, would make "a great prime minister"; and that "the people of the U.K. agree with [him]". All that in a single interview.
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After touching down with FLOTUS Melania Trump at Stansted Airport at 2pm on Thursday, the pair attended a black-tie dinner hosted by Theresa May at Blenheim Palace with 150 business leaders. Protesters outside the palace described him as an "orange chicken" and warned him to "not comb over her again".
Photos from the red carpet outside the event show Trump and May holding hands – a nauseatingly awkward scene that has caused controversy (and repulsion) among many British people before.
Many people on Twitter drew astute parallels between Trump and Melania's outfits and Beauty and the Beast.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is also less than pleased about the president's arrival. He posted a video on Twitter on Friday morning attacking both the president and Theresa May for welcoming him so warmly.
Labour MP Yvette Cooper tweeted her disappointment with the PM, while Emily Thornberry, speaking on a LBC said Trump's comments on The Mayor of London were Islamophobic and racist."
Love Actually was also trending on Twitter this morning, with the British public urging May to channel Hugh Grant’s prime minister character with a rousing speech in response to his damning Sun interview.
In his Sun interview Trump also revealed he had been told about the much-anticipated 20ft "Trump baby" balloon, which was inflated in Parliament Square this morning. He admitted he "feels unwelcome" in the capital but insisted that many British people are "delighted" about his visit and “love the president of the United States." Ok then.
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The biggest protests against Trump will take place this afternoon and into the evening, as photos taken in the run-up and posted on social media suggest that the signage will be cutting, pun-tastic and unmistakably British.
Some referred to the ongoing campaign to get Green Day's "American Idiot" to the top of the U.K. singles charts in protest.
On Friday morning Trump joined May for a counter-terrorism demonstration by U.K. and U.S. special forces at Sandhurst, and this afternoon he will have talks with the PM and the new foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, at her Chequers country retreat.
He will spend this weekend playing golf in Scotland at one of his own resorts and staying in the Trump Turnberry hotel.
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