Lost in the “shithole” storm of the last 48 hours was something else Donald Trump said, something else that is simply NOT true. Let’s call this tweet what it is, a lie.
Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for “peanuts,” only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018
As we know Trump doesn’t like anything that his predecessor Barack Obama did, but the fact is Obama didn’t make the deal to move the US Embassy in London. That was a Republican, George W. Bush. And it was moved for security reasons, this was confirmed Friday by a US Embassy spokesperson.
So why did Trump really cancel his visit to London? Many say he didn’t want to face massive protests. Or as the former Labour Party leader Ed Miliband tweeted:
“Nope. It’s because nobody wanted you to come. And you got the message.”
And that’s a sentiment echoed by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan:
“Many Londoners have made it clear that Donald Trump is not welcome here while he is pursuing such a divisive agenda. It seems he’s finally got that message.”
Now it appears Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is going in the President’s place.