Trump trashes U.S.-U.K. relationship
Trump on British TV: 'It looks like we're not going to have a very good relationship'
In another sign that things might be different under a Donald Trump administration, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has picked a fight with the British prime minister and the mayor of London.
Yeah, sure — Great Britain has always been one of the United States’ closest allies. But that was before David Cameron and Sadiq Khan insulted The Donald.
“It looks like we’re not going to have a very good relationship,” Trump told Piers Morgan in an interview aired on ITV Monday.
Trump made the statement after Cameron and Khan — London’s first Muslim mayor — refused to back down from criticism of Trump’s call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S.
The proposal earned Trump several critics at home after Trump brought up the idea in December. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, called it, “totally unworkable.” House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said “this is not conservatism,” and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore, called it, “the single worst idea … ever,” from a presidential candidate. Even the White House weighed in , saying the statements should bar Trump from being president. No word on what Ryan and McConnell have to say about the Muslim ban idea now that GOP leaders are trying to make friends with Trump .
[Muslim Congressman: Trump not Alone in Toxic Rhetoric]
Cameron criticized Trump in the British parliament early in Trump’s campaign, calling him, “divisive, stupid and wrong ,” Reuters reported.
Cameron refused to retract the comments after it became clear that Trump would become the nominee.
Trump said early in the ITV interview that he didn’t care about Cameron’s comments. Then he revised his statement.
“I hope to have a good relationship with him, but it looks like he’s not willing to address the problem either,” Trump said.
[McConnell on Trump: Muslim ban “Totally Unworkable”]
Trump initially praised Khan after he took office earlier this month and told the New York Times he would make an exception to the Muslim ban so Khan could visit the U.S. But Khan was not charmed.
The mayor said Trump is ignorant about Islam, Reuters reported. So Trump fired back.
“He doesn’t know me, doesn’t know what I’m all about,” Trump said in the ITV interview. “I think they are very rude statements. Frankly, tell him I will remember those statements. They are very nasty statements. It is ignorant for him to say that.”
Trump also defended his Muslim ban proposal.
“We have a tremendous problem with radical Islamic terror,” he told Morgan. “The world is blowing up, and it’s not people from Sweden that’s doing the damage, OK.”
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