{"id":22522,"date":"2024-04-09T20:11:47","date_gmt":"2024-04-09T20:11:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/09\/cameron-on-u-s-trip-takes-a-risk-and-meets-with-trump\/"},"modified":"2024-04-09T20:11:47","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T20:11:47","slug":"cameron-on-u-s-trip-takes-a-risk-and-meets-with-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/09\/cameron-on-u-s-trip-takes-a-risk-and-meets-with-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Cameron, on U.S. Trip, Takes a Risk and Meets With Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"549\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/09\/multimedia\/09uk-cameron-01-pqkf\/09uk-cameron-01-pqkf-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,549&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Cameron, on U.S. Trip, Takes a Risk and Meets With Trump\" title=\"Cameron, on U.S. Trip, Takes a Risk and Meets With Trump\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When Britain\u2019s foreign secretary, David Cameron, went to Washington on Tuesday, he made all the usual stops, from the State Department to Capitol Hill. But it was his pilgrimage to Palm Beach, Fla., where he met former President Donald J. Trump for dinner on Monday evening at Mar-a-Lago, that grabbed most of the attention.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Cameron is the first top British government official to meet with Mr. Trump since he left the White House. His visit \u2014 ostensibly to cajole Mr. Trump into backing additional American military aid to Ukraine \u2014 attests to Mr. Trump\u2019s influence over a far-right faction of House Republicans who have been holding up a vote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It also underscores how the electoral calendar is affecting political dynamics on both sides of the Atlantic. Mr. Cameron, a onetime prime minister, has emerged as almost a shadow British leader abroad, standing in for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is busy with a looming general election at home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In traveling to meet Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Mr. Cameron was reaching out to a once, and potentially future, American president \u2014 one whose jaundiced views on Ukraine are seen as the biggest hurdle to the continuation of much-needed American aid for the Ukrainian military.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe had a good meeting,\u201d Mr. Cameron said of Mr. Trump, while standing alongside Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken after their own session at the State Department on Tuesday. \u201cIt was a private meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Cameron said he and Mr. Trump discussed Ukraine, the Israel-Gaza conflict and other geopolitical issues, but he declined to say whether he had made any headway on convincing Mr. Trump to provide additional aid to Ukraine. He said he delivered the same message he gives to other American leaders: \u201cThe best thing we can do this year is to keep the Ukrainians in this fight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump has not commented on the dinner, which included Britain\u2019s ambassador to Washington, Karen Pierce. His campaign issued a statement saying they discussed \u201cthe need for NATO countries to meet their defense spending requirements and ending the killing in Ukraine.\u201d They also shared their \u201cmutual admiration for the late Queen Elizabeth II.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">So far, Mr. Cameron\u2019s lobbying campaign in Washington has been met with decidedly mixed results. While he said he looked forward to meetings with Republicans in the House and Senate on Tuesday and Wednesday, he was not scheduled to meet with Speaker Mike Johnson, the Louisiana Republican who is the pivotal figure in scheduling a House vote on military aid to Ukraine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The two men last met in December, when Mr. Cameron also saw Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right Georgia Republican who stridently opposes further aid. Two months later, she lashed out at Mr. Cameron, saying he had accused Republicans of appeasing President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cDavid Cameron needs to worry about his own country,\u201d Ms. Taylor Greene said, adding an epithet.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At his news conference with Mr. Blinken, Mr. Cameron acknowledged that he viewed his visits to Capitol Hill with \u201cgreat trepidation,\u201d noting that, \u201cIt\u2019s not for foreign politicians to tell legislators in another country what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Cameron played down the Mar-a-Lago meeting, saying it was routine for senior British and American officials to meet opposition candidates. As prime minister, he noted, he met with the Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, when he came to London on a fund-raising trip. Mr. Blinken met the Labour Party leader, Keir Starmer, at a security conference in Munich.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, there is little routine about meeting a former president at the Palm Beach estate that served as his winter White House and is still his political bastion. Mr. Trump used Mar-a-Lago for summit meetings with foreign leaders like <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/04\/04\/world\/asia\/china-mar-a-lago-guo-wengui.html\" title=\"\">President Xi Jinping of China<\/a>. More recently, he welcomed a like-minded leader, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/02\/28\/us\/politics\/trump-viktor-orban-hungary.html\" title=\"\">Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Among Republicans, a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago has at times been an exercise in political validation. Kevin McCarthy, the former House speaker, went there three weeks after the attack on the Capitol in January 2021, in a fruitless bid to win Mr. Trump\u2019s favor. Allies like Kristi Noem, the South Dakota governor, and Kari Lake, the Arizona TV anchor-turned-politician, are regular visitors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Diplomats in Britain said Mr. Cameron\u2019s visit was a risk, but characteristic of how he has approached his job from the start. On issues from Ukraine to Israel\u2019s military campaign in Gaza, he has pushed the envelope in his public statements. With Britain\u2019s Conservative government lagging Labour by double digits in the polls and facing voters in the fall, some said Mr. Cameron had little to lose.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cFlattering Trump about his importance and significance on this issue is an astute move on Cameron\u2019s part,\u201d said Simon Fraser, a former head of Britain\u2019s Foreign Office. \u201cLet\u2019s see whether it delivers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Fraser predicted that Mr. Cameron\u2019s visit would get a mixed reception in Britain: applauded by those who view it primarily through a foreign-policy lens; criticized by those, he said, \u201cwho can\u2019t stand Trump.\u201d But he said Mr. Cameron\u2019s entree to Mr. Trump spoke to his network of global contacts, a legacy of his time as prime minister.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHe\u2019s bringing more reach and energy and impact to British foreign policy,\u201d Mr. Fraser said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Leslie Vinjamuri, the director of the U.S. and Americas program at Chatham House, the British research institution, said, \u201cIt may not feel tasteful, but it\u2019s shrewd, pragmatic politics of the kind Britain especially has historically been so good at, and probably of the kind that will work best with Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere is a lot at stake in U.S. defense of Ukraine and Europe\u2019s security,\u201d she added, \u201cand frankly, I think the effort to influence the U.S. may be wiser and more effective than the aspiration to Trump-proof Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Cameron has had a bumpy history with Mr. Trump. In 2016, as prime minister, he condemned Mr. Trump\u2019s campaign proposal to place a temporary ban on allowing Muslims to enter the United States.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Asked in Parliament whether Mr. Trump should be banned from Britain, Mr. Cameron demurred but said, \u201cHis remarks are divisive, stupid and wrong, and I think if he came to visit our country, I think he\u2019d unite us all against him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Even Mr. Cameron\u2019s welcoming of Mr. Romney in 2012 had its awkward moments. Mr. Romney, who had organized the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, questioned whether London was ready to play host to the summer games, citing reports about security concerns.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world,\u201d Mr. Cameron shot back. \u201cOf course, it\u2019s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Maggie Haberman<!-- --> contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/09\/world\/europe\/david-cameron-trump-ukraine-israel.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Britain\u2019s foreign secretary, David Cameron, went to Washington on Tuesday, he made all the usual stops, from the State Department to Capitol Hill. But it was his pilgrimage to Palm Beach, Fla., where he met former President Donald J. Trump for dinner on Monday evening at Mar-a-Lago, that grabbed most of the attention. Mr. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/09\/multimedia\/09uk-cameron-01-pqkf\/09uk-cameron-01-pqkf-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[36,1378,1115,1074,657,52,221],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22522"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22522"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22524,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22522\/revisions\/22524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}