Global Geo-political Series: United States’ UK ambassador says trump misinterpreted over far-right tweets

A few weeks ago, a diplomatic brawl broke out between two special friends; the United Kingdom and the United States over President Trump’s retweets.

The Tweets:

On November 28th, President Trump retweeted three videos, originally shared by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of Britain First, which is considered by many in the UK as a far-right neo-Nazi group.

Here is the link to the first video that shows, Islamist mob pushing teenage boy off the roof and beats him to death. https://twitter.com/JaydaBF/status/935775552102981633

Here is the link to the second video that shows, a Muslim man destroying the statue of Virgin Mary. https://twitter.com/JaydaBF/status/935805606447013888

Here is the link to the third video that shows, a Muslim immigrant beating a Dutch boy on crutches. https://twitter.com/JaydaBF/status/935609305574903812

A rebuke from the UK:

UK Prime Minister May condemned Trump through her spokesperson James Slack, who said that it was wrong for the President to have done it. He added, Britain First, which is widely considered by many as an anti-Islam, neo-Nazi group, seeks to divide communities through their use of hateful narratives that stoke tensions.

Trump punches back:

President Trump, who is a known counter-puncher hit back at the criticism via a tweet to Theresa May saying, “.@Theresa_May, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!”

While this was not the first time Trump has triggered diplomatic tensions via tweets, it was definitely the biggest with the special friend.

Other UK politicians also weighed in. MPs described Mr. Trump in parliament as “fascist”, “stupid” and “racist, incompetent or unthinking”.

Ambassador’s defense:

Speaking on the Today program this week, ambassador to the UK Woody Johnson sought to clarify Mr. Trump’s stance, saying, “Well I think a lot of that stuff was probably misinterpreted. Security is his number one oath. So if you look at it in the context of that, that’s what he’s trying to do. Is he going to be perfect in appeasing everybody? He wants to protect Americans, and he’s not going to go down the path of a lot of politicians and be namby-pamby about it. He’s going to take some chances in an effort to accomplish that security goal. Maybe he’ll ruffle feathers.”