President Donald Trump took time to criticize the mayor of London on June 3 as he was landing for his official state visit to the United Kingdom.
Trump noted that crime is a major problem in the capital of the country and suggested that Sadiq Khan, the mayor, should focus on that rather than on him.
“Sadiq Khan, who by all accounts has done a terrible job as Mayor of London, has been foolishly ‘nasty’ to the visiting President of the United States, by far the most important ally of the United Kingdom. He is a stone-cold loser who should focus on crime in London, not me,” Trump wrote in a missive on Twitter.
“Kahn reminds me very much of our very dumb and incompetent Mayor of NYC, de Blasio, who has also done a terrible job—only half his height,” he said.
“In any event, I look forward to being a great friend to the United Kingdom, and am looking very much forward to my visit. Landing now!” he added.
Khan, 48, became mayor of London in 2016 after serving as a Member of Parliament for 11 years.
“I think it’s important for us to have good relations with our closest ally, and important for our allies to be here for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings; we’ve got to have good relations with the U.S.—but I don’t think we should be rolling out the red carpet,” Khan said.
“Our closest ally is akin to a best friend—and the thing about a best friend is that you stand shoulder to shoulder with them in times of adversity, but you’ve got to call them out when you think they’re wrong. There are so many things about President Donald Trump’s policies that are the antithesis of our values in London, but also our values as a country.”
Khan cited Trump’s travel ban on Muslim-majority countries that struggle to contain terrorism and his policies trying to stem the flood of illegal immigrants at the southern border among the policies he disagrees with.
Khan and Trump’s back-and-forth came after Trump praised Nigel Farage, the leader of the Brexit Party, saying the government should include him in exit talks.
