When Donald Trump arrived this week at Windsor Castle, by carriage no less, he was greeted by three different honor guards: the Grenadier, Coldstream and Scots.
That had never been done before.
Then King Charles unloaded more pomp – a Beating Retreat musical performance, complete with a flyover from the Red Arrows followed by a gilded state dinner in the exquisite St. George’s Hall. For dessert, an after-dinner playlist that included some Trump rally favorites like Tiny Dancer and Nessun dorma.
The next day, Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted Trump at his Chequers estate – a much fancier version of Camp David – where he was treated to another flyover, this time with parachuters, zig-zagging down from the sky with massive American and British flags.
When things got down to brass tacks at a bilateral press conference, Trump allowed his UK counterpart to twist in the wind like those jumpers.
Britain rolled out the red carpet like never before for Trump this week — and then watched helplessly as he tossed aside Starmer’s wishes on some of his biggest issues.
The lesson: No amount of pomp and praise can buy Trump’s loyalty.
A journalist for the UK’s Sky News asked about the ‘elephant in the room’ – Starmer’s decision to sack his US ambassador, Peter Mandelson, after more details came out about the diplomat’s friendship with the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
President Donald Trump (left) and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (right) appeared at a bilateral press conference Thursday afternoon at Chequers, the more ornate British version of Camp David. All the pomp didn’t move Trump on issues like Ukraine and a Palestinian state
President Donald Trump and the American delegation were feted with a feast in St. George’s Hall at Windsor Castle by King Charles on Wednesday
When the reporter asked Trump if he had some ‘sympathy’ for Mandelson for losing his job over his ‘historic links’ to Epstein, instead of providing Starmer with a soft landing, he punted, tossing the question to the prime minister.
‘I don’t know him, actually,’ Trump said of Mandelson – despite photographs of them together in the Oval Office in May.
‘I think maybe the prime minister would be better speaking to that,’ the president said. ‘That was a choice that he made and I don’t know, what is your answer to that?’ said Trump, turning from ally to inquisitor.
Starmer, visibly uncomfortable, simply said he made the decision based on new information available.
On even more substantive global issues, no amount of pomp appeared to get Trump to budge.
The prime minister insisted repeatedly that it was time to deploy a heavier hand against Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the wa in Ukraine.
‘And it’s only when the president has put pressure on Putin that he’s actually shown any inclination to move,’ Starmer noted, pointing to Russia’s recent bombings of government buildings and a Russian drone incursion into Poland.
Trump downplayed the threat.
The royal family put on an elaborate welcome ceremony at Windsor Castle on Wednesday for President Donald Trump (center left) and First Lady Melania Trump (left)
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer treated President Donald Trump to a parachute display on the lawn of Chequers
King Charles (right) delivers a toast to President Donald Trump (center) at a glitzy state banquet at Windsor Castle. Trump was seated next to Kate Middleton (left)
The Red Arrows performed a flyover to conclude a musical performance outside Windsor Castle called a Beating Retreat. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump joined King Charles and Quen Camilla in the viewing stand
‘It doesn’t affect the United States and … look, it doesn’t so much affect you,’ the president told Starmer. ‘Of course, you are a lot closer to the scene than we are. We have a whole ocean separating us.’
Trump also minimized the largest war in Europe since World War II since no one has designated it a ‘world war.’
‘That’s a war that could have been a world war, and I don’t think we’re going to be there now,’ he said.
Aboard Air Force One, Trump described Starmer as a ‘little bit embarrassed’ that he caught European countries buying oil from Russia and dug in his heels.
‘We’re supposed to do all this stuff, and they’re buying oil from Russia?’
To be sure, Starmer didn’t come up empty handed. He secured several wins, including less aggressive tariff rates than other countries. Trump also thinks Starmer ‘holds his ground on positions without being critical,’ a perspective he respects, the Wall Street Journal reported.
But if Starmer thought pomp would be a useful tool for persuasion across the board, he should have looked toward the trio of Middle Eastern leaders who hosted Trump at three lavish state dinners in May.
The president traveled to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates – and was greeted by Arabian horses, camels and hair twirlers, respectively – visiting a series of ornate palaces.
Camels lined the streets for President Donald Trump in the Qatari capital of Doha during the American leader’s May visit. Earlier this month Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani was furious that Israel launched an attack on Hamas on Doha’s streets
The president was delighted by children who performed the ‘Al-Ayyala’ hair flip as he was greeted by UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, at Qasr Al Watan, in Abu Dhabi during his Middle East trip in May
More pomp – in a way that only the Middle East can deliver.
But this month, all three leaders were furious that the U.S. ally Israel struck the Palestinian terror group Hamas on the streets of Qatar’s capital Doha.
No amount of flattery can pry Trump away from Israel, who said at the Starmer press conference that ‘one of our few disagreements’ was over the war in Gaza and Palestinian statehood.
Trump’s allies have learned to roll out the red carpet for him — a necessary tactic to manage this administration H.A. Hellyer, a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies told the Daily Mail.
But, ‘it doesn’t change anything,’ Hellyer said. ‘What has become clear to allies of the US … is that DC is not a reliable guarantor of regional security architecture that they once thought it was.’
