NBC correspondent Richard Engel stood amid a throng of protestors today on the streets of London as thousands of Britishers let it be known that President Trump was unwelcome there and that they think he's pretty much of a, well, jerk. There was even a farting presidential robot.
Signs were all over the place. #DumpTrump said one. And that was one of the most polite. "No to Racism. No to Trump" said another. An inflated baby Trump balloon hovered over the crowd.
Inside, standing aside Queen Elizabeth, Trump said the "Fake News" was making it all up. Actually, there were thousands, he said, out there cheering for him. "There was great love," said Trump.
Hilariously, Engel commented that Trump must have been talking about crowds in a different city, because it certainly wasn't that way there on the streets of London. The celebrated war correspondent said Trump was "delusional."
Britishers were having a ball on social media with the Trump visit, seemingly trying to outdo each other with funny, denigrating comments. And when one person defended Trump as the best President since Ronald Reagan, Facebookers from the U.S. said, great, you can have him.
It was all too funny.
But Trump's remark about the crowd brought to mind his very first lie as President of the United States: his claim that his inaugural crowd was the biggest since the sinking of the Titanic and was, in fact, simply gigantic. And he said it with a straight face, despite comparative photos that showed vast empty spaces on the mall compared to a side-by-side pic of the massive crowd attracted by President Obama.
It was just another attempt to alter reality by our esteemed president.
By the way, I agree with the American Facebooker who told the Trump defender that if they liked him so much, they could keep him.
Meanwhile, here at home Republican members of the Senate were finally showing some gumption, sending a message to the White House that if Trump imposes his devastating tariffs on Mexico they are prepared to overturn that action and that they have the votes to override any veto.
So Trump is not having a great day. Maybe when even more serious matters involving Trump come before the Senate those senators will show similar courage. But don't bet the ranch on that.