As the Brexit process descended into yet more chaos, Friday, Andrea Mitchell had an idea as to who should share some of the blame: Donald Trump. Talking with NBC and BBC reporters as another vote in Parliament failed, the MSNBC host complained, “Donald Trump has actually played a very disruptive role in this.”
Citing a 2018 visit to Britain and to Prime Minister Theresa May’s country home, Mitchell continued, “Back when he was coming from a very nasty NATO meeting and went to Chequers and gave an interview to one of her opposing newspapers on the eve of that. And most recently his son sort of trolling her, saying she should have taken his advice.”
Mitchell’s outburst came after NBC News London reporter Ali Arouzi explained how many of the pro-Brexit protesters outside Parliament feel: “Funnily enough, many of the people I have spoken to here say they want a Donald Trump- type figure to take control here, a member of not mainstream politics, somebody that will deliver to them what they want.”
BBC reporter Jon Sopel recounted the bad blood between May and Trump, putting some culpability on Trump.
He was due to meet Theresa may in Chequers and he said three things in the Sun newspaper. He said, that, one that Theresa May hasn't listened to his advise. Two, that if she carried on with the arrangement she has tried to sell, which has failed for the third time in Parliament, it would make a trade deal with the U.S. very difficult. And third, Boris Johnson would make a great prime minister. It was a bullseye against Theresa May each time. And you wonder what their relationship is. I'm told they had a very very bad conversation when Donald Trump was flying to a summit. He was on Air Force One talking to Theresa May and there was not a lot of love in that conversation.
On the July 14, 2018 Andrea Mitchell Reports, guest Nicholas Burns hammered Trump’s role in Brexit: “We have not seen this kind of wrecking ball tour of Europe by any American President in the history of our country, to go after the Germans, to go after the British, to go after NATO and the EU.”
A transcript is below:
Andrea Mitchell Reports
3/29/19
12:03
ALI AROUZI (NBC News London): And funnily enough, many of the people I have spoken to here say they want a Donald Trump- type figure to take control here, a member of not mainstream politics, somebody that will deliver to them what they want. But of course, that only gives half the picture. There is half the country here who don't want a Donald Trump-type figure and there are deep divisions in the U.K. which don't look like they're going to heal anytime soon. But what the fact of the matter is here, that neither side seems to be getting what they want. So the country remains in deadlock. It is somewhat chaotic here, as the country struggles to get through this very, very difficult situation in the U.K. There are a lot of very colorful banners where we're standing here, saying "Leave means leave," "We want Brexit and we want it now." So folks here are adamant about what they want. But as I said, there's another half of the country that feel very differently, Andrea.
ANDREA MITCHELL: And to that point, the country is really divided. And the numbers of people out in the street in it Parliament Square do not tell the full story according to all the polling and everything else we know. And Donald Trump has actually played a very disruptive role in this. Back when he was coming from a very nasty NATO meeting and went to Chequers and gave an interview to one of her opposing newspapers on the eve of that, and most recently his son sort of trolling her, saying she should have taken his advice and his saying as recently as last night that he liked Boris Johnson, her chief Tory opponent.
JON SOPEL (BBC North America editor) Donald Trump allied himself firmly to the Brexit cause. I went with him when he went to his golf course in Scotland the referendum. I think it was a light bulb moment for him, that if the conservative, boring, set in their ways British people could vote for Brexit maybe the American people could vote for him few months later in November.
MITCHELL: This was during the campaign.
SOPEL: This was was during the campaign. And he took time out to go to Turnberry golf course in Scotland to do this. And as you say, he came to Britain last July. He was due to meet Theresa may in Chequers and he said three things in the Sun newspaper. He said, that, one that Theresa May hasn't listened to his advise, two, that if she carried on with the arrangement she has tried to sell, which has failed for the third time in Parliament, it would make a trade deal with the U.S. very difficult. And third, Boris Johnson would make a great prime minister. It was a bullseye against Theresa May each time. And you wonder what their relationship is. I'm told they had a very very bad conversation when Donald Trump was flying to a summit. He was on Air Force One talking to Theresa May and there was not a lot of love in that conversation.
