{"id":6328,"date":"2025-09-19T12:13:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T10:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/?p=6328"},"modified":"2025-09-19T12:13:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T10:13:15","slug":"trump-visit-corruption-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/2025-09-19\/trump-visit-corruption-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump&#8217;s visit proved the utter corruption of our political and media class"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subtitle subtitle-HEEcLo\" dir=\"auto\"><em><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-6329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/250917-trump-visit-windsor-mn-1050-959c07-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"520\" height=\"347\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/250917-trump-visit-windsor-mn-1050-959c07-copy.jpg 520w, https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/250917-trump-visit-windsor-mn-1050-959c07-copy-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 520px) 100vw, 520px\" \/>Aside from the spectacle of our leaders openly prostrating before Trump, the truth of Britain\u2019s \u201cspecial relationship\u201d with the US was mostly found in unscripted moments around his visit<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know about you, but I find myself increasingly at a loss to put into words the extraordinary times we are living through.<\/p>\n<p>Even the best satirists cannot compete with the astonishing, comic scenes offered to us by the British and US ruling classes during Donald Trump\u2019s visit to Windsor Castle and Chequers.<\/p>\n<p>King Charles giving Trump the run-around of his taxpayer-funded mansion and grounds simply served to underscore Britain\u2019s vassal status.<\/p>\n<p>But the king\u2019s flaunting of his, and our, servitude to the US imperial order somehow failed \u2013 as it might have done in times of old \u2013 to contribute any greater stature to the perma-tanned gangster-in-chief. He just looked even more the spoilt, giant toddler in need of constant distraction and pacification.<\/p>\n<p>Stuff him in the golden carriage-pram and let him roll around the grounds, out of sight, for an hour or so. Let him play with some soldiers and watch fast planes flying overhead. Let him dress up and have a party in the big dining hall.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Trump being taken for a golden carriage ride to nowhere around the grounds of Windsor Castle, like humouring a massive toddler.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/4vpYztuUWQ\">pic.twitter.com\/4vpYztuUWQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Parody Keir Starmer (@Parody_PM) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Parody_PM\/status\/1968349362901459287?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 17, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\nAll of this in the hope that he wouldn\u2019t throw a temper tantrum and stick nasty tariffs on our goods.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe his scriptwriter understood that postmodern irony was the only proper response. He slipped into Trump\u2019s after-dinner speech an approving reference to George Orwell, the author of the dystopian novel 1984 about a society where everyone is enslaved to Big Brother.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Trump: Shakespeare, Tolkien, Orwell\u2026 incredible people. Unbelievable people like we have rarely seen before, probably won&#8217;t see again.<\/p>\n<p>My God<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/58UMTAK3MW\">pic.twitter.com\/58UMTAK3MW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RpsAgainstTrump\/status\/1968521813723394550?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 18, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>What might Orwell have made of that?<\/p>\n<p>Aside from the spectacle of our ruling class openly prostrating before Trump, the truth of Britain\u2019s \u201cspecial relationship\u201d with the US was mostly found in the unscripted moments around his visit.<\/p>\n<p>It was Trump explaining to a rogue Australian reporter, who tried to question the US President about his corrupt personal affairs, the implicitly transactional relationship between world leaders and the media: journalists get access to the centres of power but only if they don\u2019t probe too deeply.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">President Trump warns an Australian reporter that he\u2019s hurting Australia because he asked him about his business activity: You are hurting Australia very much right now. They want to get along with me. Your leader is coming to see me soon, I&#8217;m going to tell him about you. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jIUvfsziPv\">pic.twitter.com\/jIUvfsziPv<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Acyn (@Acyn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Acyn\/status\/1967955413183369337?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 16, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Trump made clear: \u201cYou are hurting Australia very much right now. They want to get along with me. Your leader is coming to see me soon. I&#8217;m going to tell him about you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Which career-minded journalist wants to lose their job \u2013 or to be held personally responsible for the imposition of a new round of US tariffs?<\/p>\n<p>Which perhaps explains why, when Trump and Starmer faced the press after their meeting today, the journalists selected to address the pair obediently delivered only softball questions.<\/p>\n<p>Those not in fear of their professional standing \u2013 that is, ordinary people \u2013 were free to take to the streets to protest the visit. So long as there was no danger Trump might be exposed to their clamour.<\/p>\n<p>Four members of the group Led By Donkeys who dared to organise a protest that might actually be heard were arrested for \u201cmalicious communication\u201d. They projected onto one of Windsor Castle\u2019s towers a nine-minute documentary charting the decades-long, intimate relationship between Trump and notorious child-sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n<p>According to the 1988 law, a communication is malicious if it is \u201cthreatening, indecent, grossly offensive, or a known falsehood\u201d. As the film was entirely truthful and nothing in it indecent or threatening (except to the US President\u2019s reputation), the British police are presumably interpreting \u201cgrossly offensive\u201d to mean anything that might offend Trump \u2013 which covers a huge number of truthful things.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Full <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ByDonkeys?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ByDonkeys<\/a> Trump &amp; Epstein Windsor Castle video <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LedByDonkeys?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LedByDonkeys<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/B1anOnYZjS\">pic.twitter.com\/B1anOnYZjS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 James Neill \uea00 \u2260 \ud835\udd4f (@jneill) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jneill\/status\/1968644108563403147?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 18, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\nIt is not just journalists who have an entirely transactional, principle-free relationship with power. The visit was a potent reminder that politicians do too.<\/p>\n<p>Yvette Cooper, the new foreign secretary, warmly greeted Trump as he stepped off his Air Force One plane in London. That is the same Cooper who a few years ago, when safely in opposition of course, made an impassioned speech denouncing Trump in no uncertain terms as a sexual predator we should have nothing to do with.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">2025: Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper greets Donald Trump<\/p>\n<p>2017: Yvette Cooper, &#8220;We&#8217;re marching because the most powerful man in the world says its ok to sexually assault women because he is rich and powerful, and we say no way&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re marching because we want no girl to ever\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/D8jPsDbB7U\">pic.twitter.com\/D8jPsDbB7U<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Farrukh (@implausibleblog) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/implausibleblog\/status\/1968053592973251013?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 16, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>If that turnaround seemed baffling, Tory politician Penny Mordaunt was on hand to remind us what political principle looks like.<\/p>\n<p>Questioned by the new Green Party leader Zack Polanksi, she called out as \u201cstudent politics\u201d his \u2013 and presumably most reasonable people\u2019s \u2013 opposition to Trump banning books, militarising the police and reversing women\u2019s long-fought-for reproductive rights.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ZackPolanski?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ZackPolanski<\/a>: &#8220;Are you comfortable with the worlds most powerful man on earth banning books, militarising the police, damaging women&#8217;s reproductive rights&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Penny Mordaunt: &#8220;I don&#8217;t know Zack, that&#8217;s not the point&#8230;&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/GMB?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GMB<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/joMq3Htwaq\">pic.twitter.com\/joMq3Htwaq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SaulStaniforth\/status\/1968580575746232388?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 18, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Mordaunt, like King Charles, Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper, is an adult in the room. They understand that principles are a luxury we cannot afford.<\/p>\n<p>Let genocide in Gaza roll on. Describe the starvation of children as \u201cself-defence\u201d. Define anyone trying to stop it a \u201cterrorist\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Because the worst crime in the world is to behave like principles matter, and to imagine that saving innocent lives is more than just silly \u201cstudent politics\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aside from the spectacle of our leaders openly prostrating before Trump, the truth of Britain\u2019s \u201cspecial relationship\u201d with the US was mostly found in unscripted moments around his visit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6329,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[22],"class_list":{"0":"post-6328","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-britain"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6328"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6330,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6328\/revisions\/6330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}