Tranquillus in Exile
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More than half a dozen people who listened to the Trump-May telephone calls have spoken to this newspaper. Mr Trump’s tone was at times described as “bullying” and “mansplaining”. He often ignored the agreed topics of discussion, going on long monologues. Mrs May sometimes sounded bemused and exasperated, trying to bring Mr Trump back to the issues at hand.
“It is hectoring, it is relentless, it is difficult to get a word in,” one ex-May adviser said of Mr Trump's speaking style on the phone. “She would go, ‘yes Donald, Donald, Donald’”, attempting to interrupt.
At times advisers would be told to see what Mr Trump had done recently that he viewed as a success, so that Mrs May could begin the call with a compliment in an attempt to massage the president’s ego, but it rarely worked.
Mr Trump, on the other hand, would ask world leaders for their views on Mrs May. "He would say to Merkel or Macron about Theresa May 'Well, what do you think now? She's blown it with that election.'”
In January 2018 the president was being briefed on an upcoming UK visit, and was told he would open the new US embassy, which had moved from central London to south of the Thames. “I don’t want to go," Mr Trump interjected, according to notes of the meeting. "I hate the new embassy which was a terrible real estate decision. So I will not go and do a ribbon cutting."
Mr Trump became fixated on the cost of the new embassy, claiming his predecessor Barack Obama had wasted money on it. One May aide recalls the president spending 20 minutes on the phone telling Mrs May why it was such an "idiotic" project. It would be another six months before President Trump made it to Britain.
Boris Johnson handles matters differently. True, he once said that Trump showed “stupefying ignorance” and was “unfit to be president”, but that was before he was president. Now he tells the US ambassador (a Trump loyalist) that the president is doing “fantastic stuff” on China, North Korea etc, and even that Trump is becoming increasingly popular in Britain (his approval rating reached almost 20% in one opinion poll).
“Boris is not a Trump ideologist,” one well-placed UK source said. "But the president probably thinks so. He believes Boris is part of his grand world view.” It is a belief held in the White House to this day.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...-meeting-notes-show-boris-johnson-said-trump/
“It is hectoring, it is relentless, it is difficult to get a word in,” one ex-May adviser said of Mr Trump's speaking style on the phone. “She would go, ‘yes Donald, Donald, Donald’”, attempting to interrupt.
At times advisers would be told to see what Mr Trump had done recently that he viewed as a success, so that Mrs May could begin the call with a compliment in an attempt to massage the president’s ego, but it rarely worked.
Mr Trump, on the other hand, would ask world leaders for their views on Mrs May. "He would say to Merkel or Macron about Theresa May 'Well, what do you think now? She's blown it with that election.'”
In January 2018 the president was being briefed on an upcoming UK visit, and was told he would open the new US embassy, which had moved from central London to south of the Thames. “I don’t want to go," Mr Trump interjected, according to notes of the meeting. "I hate the new embassy which was a terrible real estate decision. So I will not go and do a ribbon cutting."
Mr Trump became fixated on the cost of the new embassy, claiming his predecessor Barack Obama had wasted money on it. One May aide recalls the president spending 20 minutes on the phone telling Mrs May why it was such an "idiotic" project. It would be another six months before President Trump made it to Britain.
Boris Johnson handles matters differently. True, he once said that Trump showed “stupefying ignorance” and was “unfit to be president”, but that was before he was president. Now he tells the US ambassador (a Trump loyalist) that the president is doing “fantastic stuff” on China, North Korea etc, and even that Trump is becoming increasingly popular in Britain (his approval rating reached almost 20% in one opinion poll).
“Boris is not a Trump ideologist,” one well-placed UK source said. "But the president probably thinks so. He believes Boris is part of his grand world view.” It is a belief held in the White House to this day.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...-meeting-notes-show-boris-johnson-said-trump/
