Those two blowhards, Donald Trump and Piers Morgan, sat down for an interview. You can read about it wherever you want to read about it. The only thing I want to say about it here is that Trump addressed the Meghan Markle thing again and clarified what he wanted to say the first time when he called her “nasty” and then denied calling her “nasty” even though there was video with audio of him calling him “nasty” – apparently what he really meant was:
“She was nasty to me, and that’s OK for her to be nasty. It’s not good for me to be nasty to her and I wasn’t. You know what? She’s doing a good job, I hope she enjoys her life, I think she’s very nice.”
As for Prince Harry, who joined the Trump tour through the Royal Collection but was at no point seen on camera engaging with Trump directly, Trump told Piers that:
“He’s a terrific guy. He spent a lot of time talking to Ivanka and talking to my family. I went up – he couldn’t have been nicer. Couldn’t have been nicer. I think he’s great.’
You get the message then – what he wants you to know is that Harry was nice to him and his family. And it’s not like anyone from the royal family is going to come out and dispute that in a statement. But there are other ways to send a message.
As I posted yesterday, the House Sussex Instagram still hasn’t made mention of Trump’s visit or Harry’s appearance at the Royal Collection. The House Cambridge Instagram did post photos of Prince William and Catherine from the state banquet and there are shots of Trump and the Queen later on in the carousel but… note the caption below. They call it the “US State Visit” but at no point using words do they bother typing out the name “Trump”.
Is this royal pettiness?
To date, no photos of Trump with Prince William and Catherine or with Prince Harry have been released.
Here’s how the Daily Beast put it: “William, Harry, and Kate Deny Trump What He Wanted Most: A Photo Op”. According to Tom Sykes, “Several former and current White House officials told The Daily Beast that Trump is obsessed with his reputation among the British royal family”.
With the Queen? Of course. Prince Charles? Sure. They are the two highest-ranking royals in the British royal family. And Trump had several opportunities to have his picture taken with them. That was the honour. In his mind though? Given what we know about him, about his own celebrity, about his own understanding of celebrity, of course he would understand that the money shot, the big “get”, would be to have his picture taken with Will and Kate and Harry. How did that work out for him? Per the Daily Beast:
As second in line to the throne, it could be argued that William and his wife do have a responsibility to greet Trump one-on-one in front of the cameras, but so far they have studiously avoided doing so.
At [Monday] night’s state banquet, they were both seated several places away from Trump, in what was clearly a deliberate (and successful) attempt to restrict the president’s ability to harness the popularity of the young royals.
Harry was never scheduled to attend the state banquet, but his absence was still (correctly) interpreted as a snub to Trump.
Further:
It was also noticeable that when Trump visited Westminster Abbey on Monday to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, he was not accompanied by William, as might have been expected, but by Prince Andrew, the queen’s second son.
Andrew’s name-recognition in the wider U.S. is minimal, meaning the trip will have little PR value for the 2020 campaign.
In closing… I’ll just leave this right here:
