President Trump on Tuesday kept up his war of insults with London Mayor Sadiq Khan on the second day of his three-day state visit to the United Kingdom, although he refrained from repeating his description of him as a “loser” and making fun of his height.
In an editorial published ahead of Trump’s arrival, Khan said it is “un-British to be rolling out the red carpet” for him. Khan also compared Trump to murderous dictators and part of a growing global threat of far-right politics.
“I don’t think he should be criticizing a representative of the United States that can do so much good for the United Kingdom,” Trump told reporters at a press conference with outgoing U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May. “He’s a negative force, not a positive force. And if you look at what he said, he hurts the people of this great country.”
“I think he should actually focus on his job,” Trump added. “It would be a lot better if he did that.”
Trump’s comments came a day after he called Khan a “stone cold loser” in a tweet shortly before landing in London.
Khan “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,” Trump continued. “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!”
In response, Khan’s office told the BBC that “childish insults should be beneath the president of the United States.” Khan has said he is five-feet-six, although he is sometimes described as one inch shorter than that. De Blasio is six-feet-five.
On Monday, the president and first lady Melania Trump were welcomed to Buckingham Palace by Queen Elizabeth, who hosted a lunch and dinner with the Trumps, their adult children and other guests as hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Parliament Square in Central London to protest Trump’s U.K. visit.
At Tuesday’s press conference, Trump downplayed the size of the protest and suggested demonstrators were “put in for political reasons.”
"It was a very, very small group of people," he said.
Anti-Trump protesters gather in Trafalgar Square during a demonstration against his visit on Tuesday. (Photo by ISABEL INFANTES/AFP)
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