White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Tuesday that the state visit of U.S. President Donald Trump will push through. There is, however, no definite date when the visit would take place.
The visit was expected to be scheduled in October, The Telegraph reported, but there were reports it was canceled. Spicer clarified the Queen invited Trump to the UK and he accepted the invitation. He insisted there is no scheduled date and the White House is working out with the Buckingham Palace a mutually acceptable date.
Large-scale protests
The speculations that the state visit was canceled could have been triggered by reports, according to The Guardian, that Trump told British Prime Minister Theresa May he did not want large-scale protests against him when he visits.
The tentativeness of the visit could be because Trump is aware that he is not only unpopular in the U.S. but also overseas.
The American president, particularly, could be avoiding London where Mayor sadiq kahn called for the cancellation of Trump’s visit. The call from Kahn, London’s first Muslim mayor, was in response to Trump’s criticism of the way the mayor responded to the weekend terror attack in London.
Twitter-in-chief in trouble again
Kahn urged London residents not to be alarmed if they see more police on the city streets in the aftermath of the terror attack. Trump criticized Kahn’s assurance that there is no reason to be alarmed as he tweeted that seven died and 48 were wounded. Kahn, however, did not respond to Trump’s tweet because he has more important things to do than answer the ill-informed tweet, the mayor said.
It is not only Kahn but also Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, who sought the cancellation of Trump’s visit. The mayor said the red carpet should not be rolled out to the American president because his policies go against everything Britain stands for. He was no longer referring to the London terror attack but to the withdrawal by Trump from the Paris Climate Deal.
Although Kahn is aware of the special relationship between the U.S. and UK, he compared the current situation to having a close mate. The mayor pointed out that a friend stands with his close mate during times of adversity but needs to call the friend out during times he is wrong, The Hill reported.
The mayor also cited Trump’s ban on Muslims as another reason to cancel his UK state visit. Spicer, meanwhile, said Trump does not give weight to his unpopularity overseas when planning his trips abroad.
