Donald Trump persona non grata
A fake meme making the rounds, made to resemble a post by Donald Trump on “Truth” Social, says, “I never told anybody, but she [Queen Elizabeth II] knighted me in private.” Liz Harrington, a Trump spokesperson and, thankfully, no relation, confirmed that the supposed Truth Social post is fake. “This is not real,” Harrington wrote in an email to the AP.
Some people, including me, believed Trump would claim such a thing the first time we heard it. Many drooling, knuckle-dragging cretins of the MAGA persuasion expressed counterfeit outrage that anyone would believe Trump would make up such an obvious lie. It is unbelievable, but not for the reasons they think.
The first unbelievable part is contained in the first four words of the meme, of course. The notion that such a thing could happen to Trump and he would never brag about it is ridiculous.
Let’s not forget that Trump is the kind of guy who would falsely claim that the state of Michigan would name him “Man of the Year.” He is also the kind of guy who would pepper his golf course lounges with phoney framed Time Magazine covers featuring pictures of him. So of course he’s the kind of guy who would claim that the Queen would grab a butter knife when nobody was looking, tap both his round, flabby shoulders with it and intone, “I dub thee ‘Sir Donald.’” If the simpletons of MAGAland are upset that we think he is capable of making up such a lie then they shouldn’t have a “hero” like Donald Trump in the first place.
But some Trump apologists are now claiming that Donald Trump had some kind of “special relationship” with the Queen. That is an absurdity on its face. The Queen probably secretly hated the man. We’ll never know for sure, but why wouldn’t she loathe him? He was easy to loathe. But he emphatically did not have a “special relationship” with her. He is an obviously stupid bafoon, and every world leader, even the ones like Putin who find him useful, know this to be true.
What’s more, Joe Biden was invited to the Queen’s funeral and Trump was not. No other president has been invited. We can’t say for sure that Trump wouldn’t have been invited had he still been president, but consider this: Biden was invited without a delegation. In other words, he is invited to attend in an unofficial capacity. I can easily imagine Trump being passed over for such an honour with the easily face-saving explanation that no president past or present has received an invitation.
The fact is, Trump remains president non grata at the royal funeral. That won’t stop him trying to crash it, of course. He crashed John McCain’s funeral by sending Ivanka and her dybbuk husband Jared Kushner. Let’s see if he tries to pull some kind of publicity stunt on Monday, the day of the Queen’s funeral.
Whatever the outcome, Donald Trump can’t abide anything that’s not about him. And Monday’s royal funeral is just that — not about him — and I hope it roasts him alive, metaphorically speaking. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.