Im no fan of Starmer but …

[BettyWhittaker]

I am very anti - Labour government, have never voted Labour in my life and never would and I hope an early GE is called …

BUT - AIBU to think he really couldn’t have handled Trump any better than he had? Christ the man is completely unhinged, his behaviour is getting worse and worse - AIBU to think Starmer really couldn’t have done more to handle this?

I thought his statement yesterday was pretty good. Let’s just hope the mad man gets taken out of office before he kicks off another bloody war

The responses to this thread suggests otherwise.

Yes, and he’s also fought for the human rights of some of the most depraved murderers on the planet who hate you and have only one desire toward you. And it’s not to hand deliver you a signed copy of his latest autobiography.

Don't forget Putin superfan as well.

An mn thread you can have but personal ratings show 75% don’t have the same view as you.

Let’s see what his ratings look like after this, shall we?

You don’t think getting the death penalty removed in several countries requires diplomacy? Ok…

Do you really think that Trump recognises that Farage is just a sycophantic fake? Trump is a right wing bully, and not an intelligent one. He laughs at anybody who doesn’t put money above all else.

The Supreme Court ruling will be pivotal.

Republican US Speaker Mike Johnson, speaking to Parliament, has said his stated aim is to lower tensions.

Its shouldn't be forgotten that this Greenland thing is a Trump policy, not a US Government one.

I doubt that very few in Washington support this idea.

Trump is suffering from some sort of mental failure, anyone can see this now.

Disgusting Badenoch seeks to split the UK over Chagos & at this time, the very same deal was welcomed by the US inc Trump less than 9 months ago.

I think she would have refused to entertain his ridiculous demands.

He’s going to do what he wants to do. What we want is largely irrelevant but overt hostility from Europe at this stage could make things worse. I think Starmer has it about right, though it must be incredibly galling.

I don’t think Trump will invade Europe as such, though the US will take Greenland. All we can do is to condemn this; there’s no way of stopping it. What’s more important to me is how quickly and realistically Europe gets its act together. We cannot compete with the US, but collectively we have the resources to stand up to Russia, the most dangerous wanna be superpower in our region. They will be loving the breakup of NATO.

I disagree. Trump values strength. The constant pussyfooting around by Starmer and other European leaders means Trump thinks (probably accurately) that we are weak and that he can take whatever he wants from us.

Unfortunately (for you, apparently) human rights aren’t relinquished (mostly) for people on trial. If you don’t agree with human rights then don’t become a human rights lawyer.

But he can.

You can only play the tough guy if you are a tough guy.

We are not.

Its very low and shows that pp's opinion and values of the UK to constantly drag up petty party politics on every thread, when we face the biggest security threat this country and Europe has faced since the 1930s...

So different from the many posters who have said "Yes can't stand Labour/Starmer but he is doing ok on this.."

If it were a Tory PM, i'd feel no different, sometimes we have put aside politics.

Boris Johnson had Covid to deal with just weeks after the general election.

Keir Starmer has Trump 2 to deal with

Which would you rather deal with? Not an easy choice.

Separately, it's worth mentioning again, imagine what the US media and other pundits would have been saying if Biden had come out with what Trump was saying?

I think she would have refused to entertain his ridiculous demands

And then what though?

If he was the only outlier, behaving in a way that was entirely different to every other western leader he could be blamed. But this kind of diplomacy has clearly been discussed and agreed at a wider G7/G20 level. If he had decided not to do that and take a stronger stance with Trump, he would have lost respect and support from everyone. That’s not a situation you want to be in if the shit hits the fan. This way, when Trump lashes out, there is safety in numbers.

I thought you were scrolling by? Still hard?

When the EU/UK did not respond with retaliatory tariffs, we potentially avoided another global financial crash.
China acted the tough guy and still has very high tariffs, above that of both the UK and EU.

China has a lot more clout than the UK.

Trump is unhinged. Last year he was praising the Chagos deal, now Starmer has upset him he is tantrumming and saying the opposite.

Like Starmer or loathe him, he is walking a diplomatic tightrope. I see Farage is back to sucking up to Trump, though, after being vaguely critical yesterday.

Would she bollocks. People really need to understand how tied-in Europe is to the US, militarily. The French have been saying for decades that it was a bad idea not to be independent, and now look where we are. If Trump and Putin decide to carve up Europe between them there's fuck all we can do about it, without throwing our lot in with the Chinese.

I disagree. Trump doesn't value 'strength' this makes him sound as if he is rational in this thinking.

Totally agree, a calm, steady, intelligent leader at this time is everything. Imagine having Trump lead your country, the sense of everything being completely out of control, no norms upheld, no rationality.

Starmer’s government has been underwhelming so far but in this I think he’s doing well. I think the majority of people agree.

I don't know about that. She certainly cosied up to Reagan.

I must admit I was non-plussed by the claim that he, Keir Starmer KC, a lawyer, single-handedly got the death penalty removed in “several countries”. That would seem highly unlikely.

So I googled, and he didn’t. He argued in court against capital sentences. Good for him, I’m strongly against the death penalty too. Whether those countries later dropped the death penalty has nothing to do with him.

I see nothing in what he’s done as a lawyer that’s got anything to do with diplomacy.

And, yes, despite how Farage might kid himself, I do think Trump regards him with contempt. IMO Trump thinks he’s a useful fool. Being a right-wing bully, which Trump undoubtedly is, doesn’t stop him having opinions about people, even those who suck up to him.

They absolutely cannot do that. If Trump can ignore NATO pacts, there is nothing stopping us in banding together with other NATO countries to try and stop them.

The US does not have the codes to U.K. nuclear weapons. In fact, there are no “codes” to Trident. They don’t control U.K. military hardware, they can’t just “switch off” software and stop our military in their tracks.