The procession down the Mall
But Trump is getting his state visit to the UK at last.
Mrs May said June’s state visit was an “opportunity to strengthen our already close relationship in areas such as trade, investment, security and defence, and to discuss how we can build on these ties in the years ahead”.
But shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry voiced concerns about the visit, saying: “It beggars belief that on the very same day Donald Trump is threatening to veto a United Nations resolution against the use of rape as a weapon of war, Theresa May is pressing ahead with her plans to honour him with a state visit to the UK.”
It’s possible he won’t have a very good time.
A spokeswoman for Commons Speaker John Bercow said a request for Mr Trump to address Parliament – an event often associated with a state visit – would be “considered in the usual way”, but did not say whether a request had yet been received.
Mr Bercow – who, as Speaker, has the power to veto who addresses Parliament – previously said he would be “strongly opposed” to Mr Trump addressing the Houses of Parliament during a state visit.
BBC royal correspondent Jonny Dymond said Mr Trump avoided London on his last visit and made it clear he did not particularly want to come to the capital if he was going to face protests.
However, our correspondent said a key part of a state visit is the procession down the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace and it is thought protesters will gather there – not a first for a state visit.
So then he’ll probably declare war.
A Churchillian stateswoman or statesman might say in this hour:
“ Even though large tracts of North America and many old and famous parts of the United States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Trump machine and all the odious apparatus of Trumpian rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight on Brexit, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength on radio and TV, we shall defend civilisation, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the banking grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in them thar hills; we shall never surrender, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, America or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then we from beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the Old World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the New.”
Trump, shouted down by bare-knuckle MPs? It might be a precious moment.