On Friday, President Donald Trump settled in for his first full day in the United Kingdom following a disastrous performance at this year’s NATO summit in Brussels. While tens of thousands of protesters—and one extremely good blimp—marched through the streets of London to “welcome” the president to England, Trump himself was miles away in Chequers, the British prime minister’s country house, where he busied himself ignoring some embarrassing questions and gleefully answering others in a press conference with Prime Minister Theresa May that was typically chaotic, disjointed and headache-inducing.
The press conference came after Trump set off a diplomatic firestorm by heavily criticizing May’s most recent plan for Brexit—the British withdrawal from the European Union—to the UK’s Sun newspaper. Asked to account for this, Trump pretended everything was just fine and called the report—yup—“fake news,” even though the Sun posted audio of his comments.
“I didn’t criticize the prime minister,” Trump claimed, despite the Sun’s having recorded him doing just that.
Then, he got down to business—racist business.
“[Immigration is] changing the culture.” Trump declared. “I think it’s a very negative thing for Europe.”
“I’ll say it loud,” Trump added, as if his racism needed punctuation.
Trump then continued to deny he’d criticized May during his Sun interview, calling her “this incredible woman” while she stood awkwardly by (he also said that “I am doing a great job, that I can tell you,” in case anyone was wondering).
Trump nevertheless described the relationship between the U.S. and U.K. as “the highest level of special.” WOW!
Then, he refused to take a question from CNN, choosing Fox News instead.
Then he talked about his uncle, and “nuclear” (he thinks it’s bad).
Eventually, the nightmare ended. But in London, the protests were still going strong.