Ignore Trump the online Twit… Trump the President is a friend of Britain

DONALD J. TRUMP the Twitter addict is a dangerous buffoon.

His retweeting of disgusting anti-Muslim videos this week is exactly what all his critics have called it — reckless, childish, incendiary.

He must have known the outrage it would generate. He did it anyway. He insulted Britain.

But what should the British Government do about this online maniac — who also happens to be most powerful person on the planet? As we approach Brexit, we need him on side. And Trump the president — as opposed to Trump the social media monkey — could turn out to be Britain's best friend.

Trump and his administration have been highly accommodating to Britain at a time when we desperately need support.

There is, as Home Secretary Amber Rudd said yesterday, "a bigger picture" to US-UK relations and the Government needs to focus on that.

May has said Trump was "wrong" to share those obscene and divisive videos.

Fair enough. It was.

Trump, petulant as ever, replied on Twitter (where else?): "Don't focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom."

The best advice to May would be to ignore the mad world of Twitter and focus on diplomacy, which matters.

Yes, it's unfortunate that the 71-year-old American President likes to wind up people online, like some irate, racist uncle who's just discovered the internet.

But there is not much Britain can do about that. It is not worth endangering the Special Relationship between America and Britain just to settle scores online. As any sane person knows, the best way to deal with friends who go crazy online is to switch them off.

The Government is therefore right to ignore the cries now going up once again to cancel Donald Trump's state visit.

Ever since he emerged as a serious presidential contender, angry activists, the perpetually offended and virtue signalling MPs have campaigned to bar The Donald from Britain.

The Labour Party was in full-on righteous mode yesterday.

Hypocrites such as Bradford West MP Naz Shah loudly took issue with Trump's promotion of "extremist content", never mind that she has posted anti-Semitic remarks on Facebook.

Ditto Jeremy Corbyn, the man who calls members of terror groups such as Hamas and the IRA friends. He weighed in comdemning Trump's "far right Tweets". The Donald is not compatible with our values, they say.

But international relations is not a morality play, it's about national interests.

In 2015, David Cameron and George Osborne rolled out the red carpet for the Chinese Premier, Xi Jinping.

His government commits human rights atrocities which are considerably worse than anything Donald Trump has done, but we sucked up to him because we want Chinese money.

America is a far better ally than China. It matters that we show respect to the office of the President of the United States, even if we all know the current occupant is a loon.

Trump the Tweeter seems to think Britain is an Islamist hellhole. Not only has he retweeted far right British vids, he also dissed Sadiq Khan, the Muslim mayor of London, in the wake of the London terror attack on September 15.

Why does he do this? The only sane answer is his ego. The former Apprentice star is an epic attention-seeker.

He may be leader of 320million Americans but he's more excited by the 44million Twitter users who follow him.

He doesn't mind if the majority hate him. He cares that he's being noticed.

But Trump the President is a different figure and has shown Britain nothing but respect. He put a bust of Winston Churchill back into the Oval Office after Barack Obama removed it.

He has offered Britain friendship and support at a time when most European leaders think we have lost the plot.

While EU bigwigs tried to trip up British negotiators and stall talks over the so-called EU divorce bill, Team Trump has stressed how eager it is to form a new positive relationship with Brexit Britain.

Liam Fox, Secretary of State for International Trade, and Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, have been welcomed to the US and told a great trade deal with America will be possible.

Our European rivals understand the difference between politics and grandstanding. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has criticised the US president at every turn.

Yet in July this year, as our Government was paralysed trying to figure out how to invite Trump without upsetting public opinion, Macron took advantage and welcomed him to Paris to celebrate Bastille Day.

The French population, realising they were getting one over Brexiting Rosbifs, hardly complained. French magazines thrilled at the elegance of First Lady Melania Trump.

The British will be less accommodating. Trump's visit will cause huge street protests, far bigger than the marches against China two years ago or George W Bush during the Iraq war in 2003.

So what? That's what democracy is all about.

The British Government should be brave enough to host the leader of our greatest ally and ignore the anger. He's too important to be shunned.

As Amber Rudd pointed out yesterday, our intelligence-sharing operations with America should not be compromised because of a Twitter feud.

We need America to help protect us from our enemies.

America is bigger and better than one man's social media account.

It's not easy to disentangle Twitter Trump from Trump the President. But for Britain's sake, the Government must try to.

Freddy Gray is Deputy Editor of  The Spectator.