Being Clever

In a scene near the beginning of the 2003 film Love Actually, the British prime minister, played by Hugh Grant, gathers his cabinet ministers to prepare for an upcoming meeting with the American president, a buffoonish character played by Billy Bob Thornton, and says, “We shall, of course, be clever.”

I couldn’t help but wonder if Keir Starmer, the current PM, was drawing on that cinematic set-up in his meeting yesterday with Donald Trump. With a dramatic flair, Starmer pulled out a signed letter from King Charles III inviting Trump to visit Windsor Castle.

It was patently obvious, to British observers at least, that Starmer was playing to Trump’s ego by assuring him that this was a rare honor befitting a great leader, as Trump fancies himself to be. Starmer’s tone was bitingly condescending in classic British fashion, a point lost on the narcissist Trump as he reveled in this moment of flattery with the international press conveniently on hand to witness it.

Starmer was clearly trying to stay on Trump’s good side and hopefully avoid the damaging tariffs Trump has leveled on other allies like Canada and Mexico; while also attempting to firm up U.S. security commitments to Europe, and especially to Ukraine.

Trump, whose fantasies include becoming the first American king, appears to have taken the bait, at least for now. But the meeting with Starmer turned mildly antagonistic when Trump allowed Vice-President J.D Vance to repeat his criticism that the UK and various European nations don’t conform with Vance’s right-wing extremist interpretation of free speech.

“We’ve had free speech for a very, very long time in the United Kingdom, and it will last for a very, very long time,” Starmer said. “ In relation to free speech in the UK, I’m very proud of our history there.”

This too reminded me of a scene in Love Actually, where Hugh Grant rebukes Billy Bob Thornton to the delight of his British underlings.

If only all of this Trump crap were a movie, we’d have something to look forward to — the ending.

HEADLINES:

• Trump, Zelenskyy hold high-stakes summit amid tensions over peace talks with Putin (ABC)

• Starmer plays royal card as he tiptoes around the madness of King Donald (Guardian)

• Five key takeaways as Donald Trump hosts UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer (Al Jazeera)

• US and UK in talks on trade deal that could spare Britain from tariffs (Financial Times)

• Trump says US will impose additional 10% tariff on China (BBC)

• Trump's commitment to Europe and Ukraine are a top focus in talks with British leader (NPR)

• Judge halts mass firings of federal workers at some agencies (CNN)

• Trump’s biggest power grab just reached the Supreme Court (Vox)

• Judge orders Trump administration officials to give sworn testimony on DOGE (Politico)

• Jobless claims spike, in worrisome sign for the US labor market (CNN)

• Ultimatum to federal workers raises tensions between Musk, White House staff (Reuters)

• Behind the scenes, GOP senators including Lindsey Graham challenge legality of Trump’s aid cuts (WP)

• One Word Describes Trump (Atlantic)

• Stanford Freezes Hiring as Schools Face Trump Funding Threat (Bloomberg)

• US universities curtail PhD admissions amid Trump science funding cuts (Nature)

• Grad School Is in Trouble (Atlantic)

• Most banned books feature people of color and LGBTQ+ people, report finds (Guardian)

• Transgender troops will be removed from U.S. military, Pentagon says (WP)

• Americans’ trust in media at lowest point in 5 decades: Survey (The Hill)

• The American press corps has never had to contend with a determined autocrat in this country, and it shows. "So now is the moment," HuffPost's S.V. Date writes. "Either we will help the nation meet it, or we won’t." [HuffPost]

• Senate GOP squirms over U.S. vote with Russia (Axios)

• Neo-Nazis targeted a majority-Black town. Locals launched an armed watch. (WP)

• Amazon Unveils Alexa+, Powered by Generative A.I. (NYT)

• OpenAI’s GPT-4.5 is better at convincing other AIs to give it money (TechCrunch)

• A self-taught AI robot can already bunny hop a bike better than we do (SingleTracks)

• Advancements in Chinese humanoid robotics simply mindblowing (ECNS)

• Harvard’s insect-inspired spring robot jumps 23 times its length for faster rescue (Interesting Engineering)

• Nvidia’s Profit Jumps 80% as Company Rides Tech’s A.I. Boom (NYT)

• Democratic Leaders Stand Real Still In Hopes No One Notices Them (The Onion)