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LBC's Washington Correspondent Simon Marks joins Matt Frei to discuss Donald Trump's reaction the UK local elections. Trump congratulated John Swinney on winning power once again following a crushing SNP defeat of Labour in Scotland. In what could be seen as a thinly veiled attack on Sir Keir Starmer, the US president praised the SNP leader as a “good man” who “deserves this big electoral victory”. Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp #simonmarks #mattfrei #LBC #trump #donaldtrump #uspolitics #ukpolitics #debate #news LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK. Join in the conversation and listen at https://www.lbc.co.uk/ Sign up to LBC’s weekly newsletter here: https://l-bc.co/signup
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0:00
OK, Simon, it's good to see you. Let's start with Trump then. He congratulated who and why
0:06
Yes, interesting. President Trump on his social media account last night, Matt
0:10
congratulating John Swinney, the First Minister of Scotland, saying congratulations to him on winning his re-election bid
0:18
He's a good man who worked very hard, along with the King and Queen
0:22
with respect to tariff relief for Great Scottish Whiskey. once again incorrectly spelt he's put an e in whiskey which would not make it great scottish
0:33
whiskey but according to president trump john swinney deserves this big election victory so
0:40
what's interesting about that is he's given the big thumbs up to john swinney no sign yet of a
0:47
of sakir starmer by the president of the united states but it cannot be far away and remember
0:55
that the outcome of these results, particularly the strength of Reform UK in the election
1:02
absolutely undergirds the view of the United States officially at government level
1:09
expressed in its national security strategy, that the optimism that it finds in Europe's
1:16
potential future is the rise of patriotic European parties. So they will be quite content
1:22
behind the walls of the White House there, the outcome of this process
1:29
Also just worth noting that the fact that the process has gone off, you know, exactly as planned
1:36
without any major questions being raised about the sanctity of the electoral process
1:43
I think is going to offer an enormous contrast between what takes place here later this year
1:49
November's midterm elections, which continue to shape up to be the source of endless litigation
1:56
by Republicans and President Trump if Republicans go down to defeat. Indeed. By the way, I'm going to make a pledge to myself to use the word undergirding at least
2:06
once every quarter of an hour. I think it's a great word, totally underused on LBC. I sort of
2:13
shouted a little reference there, which I don't think you responded to, to Nigel Farage
2:16
as far as I know Donald Trump has not congratulated Nigel Farage on his election victory I mean it not a personal victory it a party victory but do you think he will or have they fallen out irreparably Oh no I don think they fallen out irreparably and I absolutely sure that
2:33
either the President is going to post something on Truth Social over the next few hours
2:40
or if he doesn't, he will within a matter of hours, next time he's doing some kind of a photo op
2:46
for the White House press corps, one of the propagandists that now swells the number of reporters
2:54
that are part of that press corps will absolutely invite him to weigh in on the outcome of Britain's election
3:02
So I don't think it's far off. And I don't think that his relationship with Nigel Farage is damaged irreparably at all
3:11
But it's also possible that Mr Farage, you know, noticing and understanding that President Trump has over the last few weeks
3:20
particularly put him in a bit of a tight spot by many of the policy positions that he's taken and
3:26
the decisions that he's made, including the war on Iran, Nigel Farage might be quite relieved that
3:31
Donald Trump hasn't yet weighed in on that matter either. Yeah, I think that's putting him out of
3:35
the way. Talking of the war in Iran, I mean, as I discussed with my previous guests, we're in a
3:40
really rather foggy situation here yeah is there going to be another project freedom is there not
3:45
going to be are there going to be negotiations clearly both sides still want to have some kind
3:50
of off-run to to have some kind of settlement of this fight but they want to do it on their terms
3:56
with their dignity uh you know in in place as it were and it doesn't seem to be possible at the
4:03
moment no and neither side of course willing as far as we can see yet to compromise on
4:09
the central issue, which is control of the Strait of Hormuz. I mean, President Trump argues
4:14
that the central issue is Iran's nuclear ambitions and continues to maintain completely falsely
4:21
that the Iranians were within two weeks of acquiring a nuclear weapon that could have hit
4:26
American and European shores. There is no evidence, even from his own intelligence community
4:32
to support that specious claim. I mean, he claimed this week that the Pope wanted Iran
4:37
to get a nuclear weapon, which, as the pontiff rapidly pointed out
4:41
is completely untrue as well. I think it is possible that we in a kind of a holding pattern here And there may be a reason for that holding pattern And it President Trump upcoming visit to Beijing where within the next few days he will be meeting President Xi Jinping
4:58
The Chinese certainly don't want Iran overshadowing that visit. The Americans don't
5:03
The Chinese invited the Iranian foreign minister to Beijing over the last few days for consultations
5:10
And it may well be that that date in the president's diary is in his mind
5:15
he wants to get past it, he wants to get through it, and then they'll come back to try to deal with
5:21
that issue, unless, of course, he can strike some kind of an agreement before he heads to Beijing
5:26
And of course, it's worth remembering that that Beijing summit, which was an incredibly important
5:30
date in the diary for Donald Trump, has already been postponed from April because of the Iran war
5:36
So another postponement, while there's so much fuzziness about the future of the conflict
5:41
I guess is not on the cards. But then turning up in Beijing with a full war going on
5:46
is also not a good look. But then nor is having the Strait of Hormuz closed. I mean, my question to you, Simon, is
5:51
what does the American public perceive? Do they think that China is getting the upper hand here
5:58
and behaving like the designated adult in this new and rather chaotic geopolitical system
6:04
I don't even think they're aware of... I think that if you stopped 10 people on the streets
6:09
of most American cities and asked them about the upcoming meeting between President Trump and
6:14
President Xi, they wouldn't have any idea that he was traveling to Beijing. I mean, certainly
6:18
America's major news organizations are not widely informing them about the importance of that
6:25
upcoming visit. I think that what is most on the minds of the American public is the soaring gas
6:32
price, the petrol price at the pumps here, the soaring price of airfares because of the jet fuel
6:37
price rises, particularly as summer begins here and everybody's making their summer holiday plans
6:43
and they are seeing eye-watering impacts economically on their own finances, directly
6:50
resulting from this closure of the Strait of Hormuz. And President Trump says it's a price worth paying
6:56
because otherwise we'd be facing nuclear annihilation. Some of us wouldn't even be here
7:02
There's no real evidence that the American public buys that. And indeed within his own Make America Great Again movement Donald Trump is facing increasing restlessness more challenges to his own leadership of that movement And that driven in large measure by his decision to join the Israelis in waging this war on Iran
7:24
You're really hearing that, aren't you, from from Megyn Kelly, from from Tucker Carlson
7:29
you know, obviously Marjorie Trader-Green, as she's now called. These are MAGA hardcore ideologues are turning against the president
7:37
What about the base, the MAGA base, the ordinary voters, you know, the guys with the red hats and the rallies
7:43
Well, there's definitely indication that there's movement within that base. I mean, if you take a look at what's taking place in Florida, for example, there's a there's a race for the governor's mansion there and primary contests are about to be held
7:55
And there's an upstart far right figure by the name of Jason Fishback, who is making some waves
8:04
He's a long shot candidate to become the Republican Party's nominee. But he is traveling all over the state trying to persuade particularly younger voters that Donald Trump has betrayed his own ideals and betrayed the country
8:20
And so I think that there is movement within that movement, which is why you're seeing people like Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson and all the rest
8:31
beginning to stake out very different positions than those they have taken up until now
8:37
The famous fishback fightback, of course, we'll be talking about in the months to come
8:41
Finally, you have a minute on the Pope versus the President because little Marco Rubio has been in the Vatican
8:47
You know, he's a Catholic, he's a Cuban-American. He's been trying to make amends. Well, yes, of course, he says he wasn't trying to make amends
8:54
He said while he was on his way to Rome, that wasn't the purpose of the visit
8:58
even though it's absolutely apparent that that was the purpose of the visit. And to some extent, Marco Rubio may have succeeded in ironing over the differences that exist between the Vatican and President Trump
9:10
But President Trump absolutely committed to his view that the Pope is weak on crime
9:16
weak over failing to support the United States military adventurism in Venezuela and Iran
9:22
and wants the Iranians to have a nuclear weapon, which obviously the Pope does not
9:27
The most interesting aspect of what we've seen over the last few days is Marco Rubio suddenly preparing for a possible run for the presidency himself in 2028
9:38
Tongues are wagging all over Washington now about that
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