The special relationship, after all, is in a very special quandary. Trump’s “America First” rhetoric has horrified almost all of America’s traditional European allies. His suggestion that NATO is “obsolete” and his happiness to countenance the complete collapse of the European Union threatens to abandon more than a half-century of U.S. foreign policy. Even though Trump has endeared himself to the Brexiteers, who cheered his recent declaration that Britain was “so smart” to leave the EU, Trump is far less popular in Britain than even George W. Bush was at his worst. During the campaign, May herself complained that Trump’s rhetoric about Muslims was “divisive, unhelpful and wrong”; one of her chiefs of staff called Trump a “chump,” and the other said he had no interest in “reaching out” to Trump. [...]
True, there are risks for Trump. If he cannot establish a strong working relationship with Britain, his chances of doing so with any other country (well, except maybe Russia) must be reckoned negligible. A meeting with the British prime minister is, as far as Trump is concerned, diplomacy steadied with training wheels. If he still falls, it will be telling. Americans and foreigners alike will further doubt his statesmanship, and his less-than-steady start in office could get even shakier.
The dangers for May, however, are more significant. It’s not just the clash between Britain’s national interest, which demands a good working relationship with the new American administration, and its national pride, which demands that she keep her distance from Trump. Making matters more awkward is the fact Trump thrives on, and indeed may only respond to, unctuous flattery. May, who has relished being described as “a bloody difficult woman,” is at risk of seeming Trump’s patsy. At the Republicans’ congressional retreat in Philadelphia on Thursday, she already seemed to go all-in for Trump, declaring that it was an honor to be present as “dawn breaks on a new era of American renewal.” “Haven’t you noticed? Opposites attract,” she quipped earlier to reporters. If May has to eat an uncommonly gristly sandwich, then so be it.
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