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Donald Trump is ready to work with Keir Starmer if he wins the UK election and the former president returns to the White House. I I learned.
In an interview IFred Fleetz, one of Trump’s key advisers on national security and foreign policy, said the “special relationship” with the UK would continue if Starmer becomes prime minister on July 4.
This is a stark difference from the US president’s stance during the 2019 general election, when he supported Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party and claimed that Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party were “very bad for the country… he’s going to take the country to a very bad place.”
Key figures in the Labour Party, which is leading in opinion polls and expected to take power, are seeking to build closer ties with the Trump campaign in the United States.
In a sign that Trump would be happy to have either Starmer or Rishi Sunak in No 10 Downing Street, Frates said the so-called “special relationship” was “hugely important” to the former president.
“If President Trump is elected in November, I think our relationship with the UK will become even stronger,” he said. I.
“If there is a change of government in the UK, I expect the government to be prepared to work productively with the US.”
“Republican presidents have worked well with Labor governments in the past. [George W] Bush and Tony Blair. Great relationship.
“I hope that we will have a strong relationship even with the change in government,” he added.
Mr Frates’ comments may indicate that Mr Trump is not so far influenced by Conservative arguments that Mr Starmer cannot be entrusted with national security if he becomes prime minister.
Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who visited the United States earlier this month to meet Republican and Democratic officials, met with allies of President Trump including Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, Elbridge Colby, who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense under the administration, and Senator Lindsey Graham.
Frates, a former CIA agent, served as acting national security adviser and chief of staff on the National Security Council during President Trump’s first term. The two communicate regularly about national security and foreign policy, and Frates has offered to work with a second Trump administration if one is formed.
In a wide-ranging interview that also touched on how Trump would approach foreign policy if re-elected, Frates laid out the Republican candidate’s bold ambitions to broker a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and bring President Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table. But more than two years into the war, such ambitions are likely to face widespread skepticism on the world stage.
Trump’s special relationship
Relations with Britain were difficult at times during Trump’s first term in office. After he took office in January 2017, then-Prime Minister Theresa May was the first foreign leader to meet with Trump.
May subsequently hosted Trump on a state visit, during which the former president broke with tradition by walking in front of the Queen on a military tour at Windsor Castle.
The visit sparked protests, with a 20-foot-tall inflatable “baby blimp” of Trump being flown over Capitol Square during the visit.
May has reportedly tried to build a fruitful working relationship with Trump, but it has sometimes been described as “dysfunctional”, with Trump reportedly regularly interrupting her during phone conversations.
In November 2017, Trump retweeted an anti-Muslim post from the far-right group Britain First, a move that was condemned across British political circles and led Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokesman to say “it was wrong for the President to do this.”
Mr Trump responded on Twitter: “Please focus less on me and more on the devastating Radical Islamic Terrorism taking place in the UK. We are doing great!”
The conflict between the two sides has weakened the perception of a strong “special relationship” under May’s leadership and is seen as undermining her efforts to negotiate a post-Brexit trade deal with the United States.
When Boris Johnson became prime minister in 2019, Trump reportedly took a liking to him so much that he gave him his personal phone number.
But their relationship was complicated when both were presidents. Trump once described Johnson as a friend and “British[s] He appeared to criticise the former prime minister’s government, whom he calls “Trump”, in an interview with GB News last year, when he said Johnson’s government was leaning “hard left”, particularly on environmental policy.
“They weren’t really conservative,” he said.
Frates, now at the America First Institute think tank, said he believed a second term for Trump would lead to “rapid progress” on peace in Ukraine, but that Zelensky would need to agree to wait for Putin to step down before Ukraine could take back all of its territory from Russia, including Crimea.
Both the Conservative and Labour parties believe Ukraine should be given the weapons it needs to retake all its territory and topple Putin, setting up potential areas of disagreement with the United States if Trump wins in November.
“If we can hold out the situation in Ukraine through 2024 under President Trump’s leadership, we could begin the peace process next year,” Frates said.
“We are not asking Ukraine to give up its territory. We believe there should be a ceasefire and a process for Ukraine to regain its territory, which may not be completed until President Putin leaves the political stage.”
He added that Western countries should “arm Ukraine to the teeth” to prevent a Russian victory and protect it during any ceasefire, but that NATO’s European members should shoulder most of the burden of funding the military aid.
“I think the real sticking point for President Trump is that France and Germany are paying very little for arms to Ukraine,” Freitz added.
“I know the UK has a role to play and most Eastern European countries contribute a larger percentage of their GDP than the US, but this is a European dispute.
“I believe Trump’s position will be that Europe must pay the bulk of the costs of defending Ukraine.”
Frates believes AFPI’s new book is a big help. An America First approach to U.S. national securityThe plan will serve as a blueprint for Trump’s foreign policy if he wins a second term.
With Congress holding up $61 billion in military aid to Ukraine, Frates claims to have sent Trump a chapter of his book on Ukraine ahead of its publication this month.
The committee recommended providing the aid, and Trump responded by sending the committee’s letter back to Frates, signing it “well done.”
President Trump later changed his mind about the aid package, and it was ultimately passed by Congress in April.
Freitz, who traveled to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in early March to meet with Hungary’s populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, added that Trump would continue to fight to get NATO allies to spend at least 2% on defense if he beat Biden in the presidential election.
In February, Trump said he would “encourage” Russia to “do whatever it wants” if NATO allies didn’t meet their financial obligations, voicing fears he could pull the U.S. out of the Western security alliance.
Since then, Trump has assured NATO allies that he supports the alliance “100 percent” as long as European nations “play it fair.”
Fraitz also ruled out the possibility that Trump would withdraw the US from NATO, despite some commentators suggesting he would do so if other member states do not meet minimum defense spending levels.
“I don’t think that scenario will happen,” Frates said, “but I think there will be very intense pressure on NATO allies to meet their treaty obligations.”
Foreign policy aside, Fleitz said the legal issues facing Trump have only served to increase his popularity among American voters.
Daniels, 77, became the first former president in US history to face criminal trial when the hush money case surrounding former adult film actress Stormy Daniels went to court in New York in April.
Jurors in that case will begin deliberating on a verdict this week, but Trump faces three more cases in addition to the one he currently handles in New York.
Despite the accusations leveled against him, the latest polling averages give Trump a slight lead in the race.