DONALD TRUMP chose his second state visit to the UK to set out his surprise credentials as a great American President.
In an emotional toast to King Charles and later alongside Sir Keir Starmer this week, the 45th and 47th President emerged as a genuine international statesman.
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There was little sign of the preening egotist.
Instead we saw the leader of the world’s greatest superpower humbly acknowledge Britain as the birthplace of democracy and free speech.
In carefully chosen words, he lavished praise on our record in standing up to tyrants such as Hitler and Stalin — and for being the first nation to abolish the slave trade.
“The British Empire laid the foundations of law, liberty, free speech and individual rights virtually everywhere the Union Jack has ever flown, including a place called America,” he told the King.
“A fifth of all humanity speaks, writes, thinks, prays in the language born on these isles and perfected in the pages of Shakespeare, Dickens, Tolkien, Lewis, Orwell, Kipling.
“The lion-hearted people of this kingdom defeated Napoleon, unleashed the Industrial Revolution, destroyed slavery and defended civilisation in the darkest days of fascism and communism.”
His words will be like a warm bath to most British voters — especially those marching for Unite The Kingdom last Saturday.
And they will go down like a cup of cold sick with the loony Left, who smear our history as a record of racism and larceny.
Indeed, the President would not have had the chance to say it at all if hostile Labour MPs, London Mayor Sadiq Khan or clownish Lib Dem chief Ed Davey had their way.
His words were for a wider and more receptive world — including his legion of Maga fans back in the US.
‘Snatch its prey’
Our democracy, and freedom of speech — enshrined in the American Constitution — has been a theme through both his terms in the White House.
They were given voice by Trump’s close pal Charlie Kirk, the free speech champion murdered ten days ago by a trans-supporting sniper’s bullet.
Kirk’s death shocked the President, who barely a year earlier had himself escaped assassination by inches.
“I appreciate that so many British citizens have offered their condolences,” he said.
Trump’s interpretation of those values has enraged the twice-defeated Democrats but the words resonate with their own deserting voters.
And he repaid that debt to the “mother country” with an eye-watering £150billion trade deal which will have European rivals eating their hearts out.
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This huge deal is both a triumph and an embarrassment for ardent anti-Brexiteer Starmer.
Respected economist Ambrose Evans-Pritchard says saving Brexit was a key strategic goal from the day Trump returned to the Oval Office.
“The £150billion harvest of American investment in AI and advanced technology pulls this country a large step deeper into the US regulatory sphere and comes close to killing off the Rejoiner dream once and for all,” he writes in the Daily Telegraph.
In carefully chosen words, he lavished praise on our record in standing up to tyrants such as Hitler and Stalin — and for being the first nation to abolish the slave trade
“This became urgent after the election of a pro-European Labour government. Brussels has carelessly let Washington snatch its prey.”
In the ultimate Art Of The Deal, Sir Keir was prised from the coils of his beloved EU and embraced as a willing hostage by capitalism.
So, a masterful win-win for both parties.
Needless to say, there are two sides to Trump’s ledger.
His love for democracy is conditional, as we saw in the hotly contested 2020 presidential election.
As for free speech, we can say what we like about Trump as long as he agrees with it.
The man can be hard to like. Many who agree with his political goals are offended by his treatment of women, his monstrous ego and his wildly unpredictable policy leaps.
Then there are his blatant lies — not least his claim that he doesn’t remember ex-UK ambassador Peter Mandelson.
In fact “Petey” was in his Oval Office just before being sacked for his links with Trump’s good pal, paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
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Yet no amount of dirt — real or invented — seems to stick for long.
Even hostile liberal media have begun to note their audiences like what Trump has to say and are modifying their coverage accordingly.
This week ABC television superstar Jimmy Kimmel was promptly dumped for suggesting Trump supporters were making capital out of Charlie Kirk’s murder.
That would never have happened when Democrats ran the White House.
What Trump calls the “fake media” can see his personal approval ratings averaging plus-40 per cent — a level beyond Starmer’s wildest dreams.
Given the chance of running, Trump would win a landslide in a UK election.
Indeed, it is striking how former critics have begun to see Trump as a “consequential” Commander-in-Chief.
Some fans rank him alongside America’s three greatest presidents — George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D Roosevelt. That verdict is wildly premature.
But given Trump’s planet-sized ego, he is probably having himself measured for a place alongside these giants on Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Former critic John F Harris, founding editor of online news service Politico, describes Trump as a “force of history”.
‘Great assets in North Sea’
He says: “He is someone with an ability to perceive opportunities that most politicians do not and forge powerful, sustained connections with large swathes of people in ways that no contemporary can match.
“This is something his most ardent supporters have never doubted but something others, myself included, have been slow to reckon with.”
The Donald is among those rare politicians who try to deliver in office what they promise on the election stump.
He has slashed the bloated federal budget. The US economy has grown steadily — along with national debt. Well-paid jobs are plentiful.
Inflation at 2.9 per cent is way below Britain’s 3.8 per cent.
The US service industry, where tips are now exempt from tax, is booming, while British pubs and restaurants are drowning under the burden of payroll taxes.
Trump’s famous “Drill, baby, drill” order has delivered cheap energy, while here in Green-crap land we have the most expensive.
“You have great assets in the North Sea,” he told Starmer pointedly.
“Wind power is an expensive joke.”
Illegal immigration destroys countries from within
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Trump’s greatest domestic coup is the blitz on illegal immigration — with numbers cut by 1.6million since troops were deployed on the borders.
“Illegal immigration destroys countries from within,” he told our PM, who is struggling to implement his dotty one-in, one-out fiasco, while waving in 50,000 new arrivals.
Elsewhere, Trump has forced peacenik Nato and EU leaders such as Germany to raise defence spending and stop leeching off the American taxpayer.
Yes, the Prez failed to end the war in Ukraine, as promised, “in 24 hours”.
He cannot seriously complain about being “badly let down” by Mad Vlad Putin.
There is also friction with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu over the carnage in Gaza.
But when ITV’s Robert Peston asked if he would force a ceasefire, Trump rounded on him over the October 7 Hamas massacre.
“You do understand about October 7, one of the worst days in the history of humanity?” he snapped.
You do understand about October 7, one of the worst days in the history of humanity
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“What happened — I have seen the tapes. Babies four months old, just chopped up into pieces.”
Trump abhors violence. He did all in his power in his first presidency to prevent any new wars.
This time round, he acted decisively to avoid World War Three by smashing Iran’s nuclear weapons sites.
This, surely, was the Commander-in-Chief as statesman.
Barring conflict, Trump’s legacy has to be the long-term strength of the American economy — against ferocious competition from arch-rival China.
‘We owe so much’
Given America’s endless rise as an economic superpower, we might take this for granted.
But only last year Joe Biden’s huge public spending boom was dragging America into a crisis.
It was Trump’s “great big beautiful” budget bill — and his aggressive tariff raids — which made the difference.
Trump’s favourite newspaper, The New York Post, drooled over his return to the White House.
“For all the sky-is-falling cries over Trump’s trade tariffs, the strategy seems to be working,” says the paper.
“And at least so far, no catastrophic fallout. Heck, the nation looks poised to benefit enormously on several fronts.”
In another surprise, Trump hailed Britain for America’s booming economy.
“We are, as a country, as you know, doing unbelievably well,” he boasted.
“We had a very sick country one year ago. Today I believe we’re the hottest country anywhere in the world.
We had a very sick country one year ago. Today I believe we’re the hottest country anywhere in the world. We owe so much of that to you and the footing you gave us when we started
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“We owe so much of that to you and the footing you gave us when we started.”
This was priceless, cost-free diplomacy.
Trump was shown an 1862 letter from Abraham Lincoln to Queen Victoria on the death of Prince Albert, defining the special relationship for the first time.
“That’s so amazing, that’s the real deal,” he responded.
Another message, from Queen Victoria to President James Buchanan in 1858, described the “common interest and esteem” between Britain and the US.
Trump’s ties with the UK come through his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, born on the Hebridean Isle of Lewis.
Mary married real estate developer Fred Trump, beginning the Fairytale of New York — or Nightmare in the Big Apple, depending on your point of view.
“We’re like two notes in one chord or two verses of the same poem, each beautiful on its own, but really meant to be played together,” said the leader of the free world.
“The bond of kinship and identity between America and the United Kingdom is priceless and eternal. It’s irreplaceable and unbreakable.”
Historians will take time to decide if Trump has been a Great President.
The rest of us will gladly settle for a Good One.
