Trump UK visit reaction: Twitter urges May to channel Love Actually
Scene in which Hugh Grant’s PM character gives US president a telling-off goes viral
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
After an extraordinary interview with The Sun in which Trump criticised Theresa May’s handling of Brexit and tipped Cabinet turncoat Boris Johnson for Number 10, the Prime Minister could be forgiven for already feeling tired of her controversial guest.
However, Twitter users believe they have a solution, urging May to channel Hugh Grant’s prime minister character in Love Actually and hit back at Trump.
In a scene from the 2003 romcom, the PM breaks from diplomatic protocol to give Billy Bob Thornton's boorish US president a public dressing-down which many of Trump’s British detractors found spookily prescient today.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Grant warns that the “special relationship” has become a “bad relationship”, one “based on the president taking exactly what he wants, and casually ignoring all those things that really matter to Britain”.
"We may be a small country, but we’re a great one too,” he says, before listing iconic Britons from Shakespeare to The Beatles.
The fictional PM ends his inspiring speech with this warning: "A friend who bullies us is no longer a friend. And since bullies only respond to strength, from now onward I will be prepared to be much stronger - and the president should be prepared for that.”
For many, it was the perfect rallying cry against Trump, who has frequently been derided as a “bully” for his strongarm approach to diplomacy and readiness to insult allies and rivals alike.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
As Love Actually started trending, BBC Three’s Twitter account even attempted a - distinctly dodgy - video mockup of what such a scene might look like:
Elsewhere, users enjoyed sharing their favourite signs from the Trump protests taking place in Blenheim Palace last night and in the capital today, ranging from witty jabs at the president’s supposed admiration of Winston Churchill:
To messages you might describe as “straight to the point”:
-
Touring the vineyards of southern BoliviaThe Week Recommends Strongly reminiscent of Andalusia, these vineyards cut deep into the country’s southwest
-
American empire: a history of US imperial expansionDonald Trump’s 21st century take on the Monroe Doctrine harks back to an earlier era of US interference in Latin America
-
Elon Musk’s starry mega-mergerTalking Point SpaceX founder is promising investors a rocket trip to the future – and a sprawling conglomerate to boot
-
Trump links funding to name on Penn StationSpeed Read Trump “can restart the funding with a snap of his fingers,” a Schumer insider said
-
Trump reclassifies 50,000 federal jobs to ease firingsSpeed Read The rule strips longstanding job protections from federal workers
-
Is the Gaza peace plan destined to fail?Today’s Big Question Since the ceasefire agreement in October, the situation in Gaza is still ‘precarious’, with the path to peace facing ‘many obstacles’
-
Vietnam’s ‘balancing act’ with the US, China and EuropeIn the Spotlight Despite decades of ‘steadily improving relations’, Hanoi is still ‘deeply suspicious’ of the US as it tries to ‘diversify’ its options
-
Trump demands $1B from Harvard, deepening feudSpeed Read Trump has continually gone after the university during his second term
-
Trump’s Kennedy Center closure plan draws ireSpeed Read Trump said he will close the center for two years for ‘renovations’
-
Trump's ‘weaponization czar’ demoted at DOJSpeed Read Ed Martin lost his title as assistant attorney general
-
Gabbard faces questions on vote raid, secret complaintSpeed Read This comes as Trump has pushed Republicans to ‘take over’ voting