The United Kingdom shamelessly prostrated itself at the feet of Donald Trump on Wednesday, throwing a lavish welcoming party for his state visit to Windsor that resembled less diplomacy and more fealty.

In doing so, the U.K. has revealed something deeply unflattering about itself—in the scramble to keep America close, it will debase itself and its values completely.

It will silence dissent, empty out its traditions, and rent out its monarch like a sex worker, deployed to flatter the ego of a man who has spent much of his political life suggesting he should be treated like one, a monarch, not a sex worker, that is.

As stage props go, the monarchy is unbeatable. But if this is what the “special relationship” between the U.S and the U.K. now means, it looks to many in Britain less like a partnership and more like groveling, feudal servitude.

archive article: https://archive.is/DxOAv

  • RedFrank24@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    If there’s one thing the UK is good at, it’s making rich people feel important. It’s how all those Russian oligarchs feel so comfortable in London, comfortable enough to spill their secrets. Nobody suspects the butler, nobody suspects that behind the pomp and ceremony there’s a knife waiting for you.

    Trump likes to be flattered, so flatter him, and then get as much cash out of the US as possible! $150bn investment so far as a result of this little bit of pageantry, since all those tech companies are now dancing to Trump’s tune.

    • DNS@discuss.online
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      7 hours ago

      Britain is a pathetic redneck country of EU. Remember they sent their worst people over to the America’s. Absolute garbage ass country and extremely racist.

      • TheJesusaurus@sh.itjust.works
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        5 hours ago

        Hey, Britain sucks ass for sure compared to parts of the EU but it’s still lightyears ahead of America so maybe sort your own shit out. People in glass houses and that

        • DNS@discuss.online
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          4 hours ago

          I’m fully aware America is a dingleberry that came from the shit pile of Britain

            • 3abas@lemmy.world
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              2 hours ago

              What do you mean nothing to do? You’re fully committed and supportive of the genocide and pervious genocides criminal wars too, you might not be funding as much as America, but you’re fully complicit.

              Queen Elizabeth was the devil, that racist cunt and her underlings have destroyed most of the global south for their benefit, the world hasn’t recovered from the destruction your expansionist empire caused.

              Just because Trump is literally worse than Charles today doesn’t mean you’re good. You pay taxes to a monarch who follows a line of monsters who are directly responsible for most of today’s political landscape, and instead of overthrowing the monarchy when the evil witch died, you allowed an old fart to take over ruling you.

              And now your monarch is treating Trump like a monarch, which sure looks like a pledge of fealty, so the only thing left to figure out is what motivated that? What does Trump have on Charles, or is Charles simply celebrating that Epstein is gone?

              You’re knee deep in this shit, bud.

  • NABDad@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    rent out its monarch like a sex worker,

    I don’t know if they’ve been paying attention, but their monarch is too old for our President Pedophile. They’d have to offer up Princess Charlotte to interest him.

    They should ask Prince Andrew. He knows.

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      No shit. Been saying for years that he’s as easily manipulated as a toddler, and I mean that literally, not even as an insult. Best part? He’s too dumb to ever know when he’s getting played.

      • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        Giving legitimacy to a fascist just empowers them domestically and internationally. It’s not a shell game where you’re giving nothing. Legitimacy is directly how governments operate, it’s the real currency of the world. Legitimacy is frankly the bedrock of currency itself.

      • jj4211@lemmy.world
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        10 hours ago

        Even if he is “getting played”, does he care? He gets what he wants without having to act against his personal interests. If anyone buttering him up wants him to do something bad, Trump himself wouldn’t suffer for it.

    • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      8 hours ago

      Tbf, the whole thing WOULD be much funnier (and less embarrassing) with Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles playing the parts of the two doddering billionaire idiots and Aisha Tyler moderating 🤷

    • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      The problem is if they decide that William the conqueror didn’t actually have allodial rights to the land, then all property rights in the UK are made up too and that’s a bridge too far.

  • etchinghillside@reddthat.com
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    12 hours ago

    I don’t know – is this really a “UK bending” thing?

    I think this is just how NATO officials have realized how to play the game with him – fluff up his ego a bit and then get to the business talks – you play the game of politics with the hand you’re given.

    I guess it might be the greatest public showing so far by a NATO Country(?)

    • tburkhol@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      Honestly, as acts of appeasement go, a fancy dress party seems about the least humiliating thing a country can agree to. Play king for a day, like Make-A-Wish for senile fascists. If that settles the tariff negotiations, then well done.

    • cygnus@lemmy.ca
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      11 hours ago

      I guess it might be the greatest public showing so far by a NATO Country(?)

      By far, although to be fair, most of the rest of us don’t have a royal family.

    • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      Starmer is a conservative/neoliberal from 10 years ago. There is no “left” party in mainstream UK politics anymore. There is only a fascist party, and a conservative party.

      Same with Australia, Canada, and most of 14 eyes. Weird… Almost like we said this Overton shift towards fascism was occurring the entire god damn time.

      • Hacksaw@lemmy.ca
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        5 hours ago

        Yeah our “Liberal” PM was asked by the conservative government 13 years ago to be the finance minister. The Overton window is completely fucked up, we have neofascism on one side and the opposite side is neoliberals who are okay with neofacism as long as it keeps the progressives away from taxing the rich and regulating multinationals. Any suggestion that the systemic problems destroying society should be addressed with structural solutions, or even that genocide and ethnic cleansing are bad, has now become tantamount to terrorism.

        https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mark-carney-stephen-harper-1.7460897