Debate raged in the United Kingdom’s Parliament Monday over whether or not President Donald Trump should be extended the warm welcome of a full state visit. As insults targeting Trump flew back and forth, CNN seemed to get a good laugh out it all. “Insults flying over Trump's invitation for a formal state visit to the UK,” hyped Erin Burnett during her show OutFront, “One Member of Parliament today likening it to quote, “pimping out the queen.’” All while the on-screen headline read “Can God Save the Queen…From Trump?”
“President Trump doesn't just get people stirred up at home. Look what happened in the British parliament. All because Britain's prime minister invited President Trump to [a state visit],” reported CNN’s Jeanne Moos as she played clips of members of Parliament yelling and screaming. “I'm standing here as a woman being shouted down by women,” Anne Main of the Conservative Party can be heard saying.
Moos seemed in awe of the number of Britons who were opposed to the President getting the chance to meet and have dinner with the queen of England. “Over 1.8 million UK residents signed a petition saying it was okay for President Trump to come visit, but that he should not get an official state visit, ‘because it would cause embarrassment to her majesty the queen,’” she said while quoting the petition.
She also seemed amused by Labour Party MP Paul Flynn who hammered Trump with disparaging comments about his intelligence. “Like a petulant child. The intellectual capacity of the president is protozoan,” he exclaimed. “Protozoan? Like, “a single-celled microscopic animal,” Moos asked inquisitively as she literally read the result of a Google search.
“Members of parliament went there,” she touted as clips played of MPs talking about Trump’s controversial comments to Billy Bush:
TULIP SIDDIQ [Labour]: Can you really lay out the red carpet for someone who talked about grabbing women by the [ bleep ]?
…
DAVID LAMMY [Labour]: I think about a man who thinks it's okay to go and grab [ bleep ].
CAROL MONAGKAN [Scottish National Party]: I became concerned when I heard comments like “grab them by the [ bleep ].”
JEANNE MOOS: The Scottish lilt helped.
The CNN reporter even remarked on the creativity of the anti-Trump protesters outside the Parliament building. “Outside parliament, protesters rallied, ‘God save the queen from Donald Trump,’” she noted, “The president was portrayed as King Kong, clutching the monarch as he scaled Big Ben.” Moos got in on the fun too, jokingly saying, “God save the queen from this debate.”
After watching clips of Flynn stating that the visit was equivalent to “pimping out the queen for the Donald Trump,” CNN cut back to a giggling Burnett who admitted, “there’s just something about that.”
Transcript below:
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CNN
Erin Burnett OutFront
February 20, 2017
7:58:00 PM EasternERIN BURNETT: Insults flying over Trump's invitation for a formal state visit to the UK. One Member of Parliament today likening it to quote, “pimping out the queen.” Here's Jeanne Moos.
[Cuts to video]
JEANNE MOOS: President Trump doesn't just get people stirred up at home.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Sit down! Sit down!
MOOS: Look what happened in the British parliament.
ANNE MAIN [Conservative MP]: Let's have some fake outrage here. I'm standing here as a woman being shouted down by women.
MOOS: All because Britain's prime minister invited President Trump to –
THERESA MAY: Pay a state visit to the United Kingdom later this year.
MOOS: Over 1.8 million UK residents signed a petition saying it was okay for President Trump to come visit, but that he should not get an official state visit, “because it would cause embarrassment to her majesty the queen.” Opposition members of parliament lobbed insults at President Trump –
PAUL FLYNN [Labour Party MP]: Like a petulant child. The intellectual capacity of the president is protozoan.
MOOS [Reading from a literal Google search]: Protozoan? Like, “a single-celled microscopic animal?”
TULIP SIDDIQ [Labour]: Can you really lay out the red carpet for someone who talked about grabbing women by the [ bleep ]?
MOOS: Members of parliament went there.
DAVID LAMMY [Labour]: I think about a man who thinks it's okay to go and grab [ bleep ].
CAROL MONAGKAN [Scottish National Party MP]: I became concerned when I heard comments like “grab them by the [ bleep ].”
MOOS: The Scottish lilt helped.
EDWARD LEIGH [Conservative]: Which one of us has not made some ridiculous sexual comment sometime in our past?
MOOS: The queen, probably. She would be President Trump's official host as she was for President Obama, that time he accidentally toasted –
BARACK OBAMA: To the queen.
MOOS: Right through Britain's national anthem. Outside parliament, protesters rallied, “God save the queen from Donald Trump.” The president was portrayed as King Kong, clutching the monarch as he scaled Big Ben.
PARLIAMENT: NO!
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I think the no’s have it.
MOOS: In the end, the government made clear –
UNIDENTIFIED MAN 2: The visit should happen. The visit will happen.
MOOS: But, god save the queen from this debate.
FLYNN: Pimping out the queen for the Donald Trump..
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN…
UNIDENTIFIED MAN 3: Mr. Walker I don’t think it’s in order to refer to “pimping out” our sovereign.
MOOS: New York.
[Cuts back to live]
BURNETT: There’s just something about that. [laughter]
