Overview

Donald Trump's 2019 United Kingdom Visit refers to President Donald Trump's first official state visit to the United Kingdom which included meeting with the royal family and Theresa May, exchanging gifts, and a series of speeches/ press conferences.

Background

On June 3rd, 2019 just before Donald Trump^[12] landed in the UK he tweeted, "@SadiqKhan, who by all accounts has done a terrible job as Mayor of London, has been foolishly “nasty” to the visiting President of the United States, by far the most important ally of the United Kingdom. He is a stone cold loser who should focus on crime in London, not me….." In a second tweet he continued saying, "….Kahn reminds me very much of our very dumb and incompetent Mayor of NYC, de Blasio, who has also done a terrible job – only half his height. In any event, I look forward to being a great friend to the United Kingdom, and am looking very much forward to my visit. Landing now!" (shown below). The tweet gained over 190,000 likes and 45,500 retweets in a day.

CNN International tweeted live video coverage of the arrival complete with commentary (shown below). News outlets like CNN^[13] and The Washington Post^[14] continued live coverage throughout Trump's visit.

Notable Developments

On June 3rd, 2019, Many photos circulated of Queen Elizabeth greeting Donald Trump. Twitter user @TechnicallyRon^[1]1 shared a photo of the event and added a parodied conversation between the two as a caption (shown below. The tweet gained over 2,400 likes and 500 retweet in a day.

The next day, Twitter user @kylegriffin1 shared a Sky News clip of London Mayor Sadiq Khan's response to Trump's tweets and captioned it as, "London Mayor Sadiq Khan says that Trump is 'a poster boy for the far-right movement around the world,' and that Theresa May should tell him his values are 'not reflected' by the UK" (shown below). The tweet gained over 3,000 likes and 800 retweets in a day.

Protests

On June 2nd protestors readied themselves for Trumps arrival with large messages posted around the airport and London. Twitter user @born_eco^[2] tweeted a photo of a penis mowed into a lawn captioned, "Guess who's been busy today mowing a stiff message for Trump under the Stansted flightpath… Please share and let's see how far we can spread the welcome! #climatechange #Trump #welcometrump" (shown below). The tweet gained over 7,100 likes and 4,200 retweets in two days.

The next day, @ByDonkeys^[3] tweeted, "Hi @realDonaldTrump. Just so you know, you’re wildly unpopular here in Britain. SAD! People REALLY don’t like you (though they love @BarackObama). Hope you like seeing your FAILING approval numbers projected onto the Tower of London. #TrumpUKvisit" (shown below, left). The tweet accumulated over 79,400 likes and 23,900 retweets in a day. Later that morning the same Twitter user^[4] tweeted, "Hey @realDonaldTrump, we read the story about the sailors on a US warship being ordered to hide from you because you’re triggered by the name on their hats. So we turned Madame Tussaud's into a giant USS John McCain baseball cap. Welcome to London!" (shown below, right). The tweet garnered over 82,000 likes and 21,000 retweets in a day.

On June 4th, protests in London continued. Twitter user @dansabbagh^[6] tweeted, "Afternoon Trump protest line up. Brian Eno, Mark Rylance in the line up, closing speaker David Lammy" (shown below, left). @ajplus^[7] tweeted images from the protests sayding, "Thousands of UK protesters demonstrated against President Trump. A flying baby blimp rose from Parliament Square. Elsewhere, a "Dumping Trump" robot sat on a golden toilet, phone in hand." (shown below, right). The tweet gained over 1,000 likes and 420 retweets in a day.

On June 4th, The Sun posted a video of a woman stabbing the baby Trump Blimp and saying that Trump "is the best US president ever" (shown below). The video gained over 24,800 views and 2,100 likes in a day.

Stephen King Tweets

On June 3rd, 2019, American writer Stephen King^[5] tweeted about the event. He tweeted, "Had to laugh when I saw Trump walking with the queen. With his belly curving out of his white waistcoat, he looks like a well-fed, brainless aristocrat from the 19th century. Which is about what he is" (shown below, left) and "I saw Donald Trump walking with the queen/Doing the werewolves of London. A-ROO, draw blood" (shown below, right) which gained 48,500 likes and 4,500 likes in a day respectively.

Stephen King concluded by saying, "Congratulations, Britain! Tonight you are hosting a state dinner for an American asshole who can't spell!" (shown below). The tweet garnered over 40,100 likes and 4,600 retweets in a day.

Dinner Speech

On June 3rd, 2019, Trump and the Royal family gathered at Buckingham Palace for the state banquet (shown below). The NowThis News stream gained over 33,600 views in a day.

Twitter user @MonarchyUK^[8][9] commented on the royal family's attention during Trump's speech and said "Members of The Royal Family having an EXCELLENT time listening to President Trump #TrumpVisitUK" (shown below, left) and "I love how everybody has turned in their seats to listen to President Trump's speech. Well, everybody but one Princess Anne #TrumpVisitUK" (shown below, right). The tweets gained over 1,200 likes and 300 likes respectively, in a day.

Theresa May Visit

On June 4th, 2019, Trump met with resigned prime minister Theresa May where they held a business roundtable and press conference (shown below).

Twitter user @JenniferJJacobs^[11] tweeted, "Trump is starting day 2 of England stop with Theresa May at St. James’ Palace at business roundtable with 10 companies – 5 from UK and 5 from US. On guest list: Execs from GlaxoSmithKline, National Grid, Barclays, JP Morgan, Lockheed Martin, Goldman Sachs, Bechtel, Splunk, etc." (shown below, left). Twitter user @TomMcTague^[10] commented on the conference saying, "Theresa May says the special relationship is "enduring" and "deep-rooted" and that she and Donald Trump are just "the latest guardians" of the alliance. Hmm, I wonder what the message is…?" (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References