What does Donald Trump want from his UK state visit?

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1:40It's going to be a big day today, Wednesday. And I know that because Donald Trump told us it's going to be a very big day. And it certainly is quite a day for him because he's going to be greeted at Windsor Castle by the King and Queen King Charles, who he says is a good friend of his. It's his first full day of his state visit to the United Kingdom. There's plenty to talk about between the US and the UK, obviously, whether it is the divisions over Gaza, Ukraine, talks about trade tariffs, and the criticism the UK has been getting recently from the US over the issue of free speech. Well, that's going to be an interesting conversation because Donald Trump has just left back home a nation reeling from the assassination of the right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, which has sparked a very fierce debate in America over what constitutes free speech.

2:30So what is Donald Trump leaving behind? And what's he arriving to in the UK? Welcome to AmeriCast. AmeriCast. AmeriCast from BBC News. When Donald Trump calls, they say, yes, sir. Right away, sir. Happy to lick your boot, sir. We are the sickest country in the world. Oh, dear. Are you worried that billionaires are going to go hungry? Of course the president supports peaceful protests. What a stupid question. Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?

3:05Hello, it's Sarah here in the United Kingdom in a hotel near Windsor. And it's Justin at home, far from Windsor in South London. And it is Mariana, a.k.a. misinformation, in the worldwide headquarters of AmeriCast in London, all on my own. Holding the fort there. Yeah, that's right, holding the fort. Let's kick off with the visit. And since you are closer to it, Sarah, why don't you kick off? If you're still in the hotel, it suggests to me that it's not properly underway, though I suppose the state bits of it could take part without you there. I could see some of the rehearsals going on through the streets yesterday.

3:40An awful lot of household cavalry on horses processing through the streets, getting ready for it all, because they've really amped up the kind of regal grandeur of the whole thing to try and impress Donald Trump. Because, as we know, it is his unprecedented second state visit. So how do you top what you did with the first state visit? Well, they've changed the venue, and he seems to be convinced that somehow Windsor Castle is a step up from Buckingham Palace and that he's really getting the full VIP treatment this time. He's right, actually. You think so? Yeah, just objectively, can we not say that Windsor Castle is a step up from the palace in the centre of London?

4:18It's a bit sort of, you know, slightly falling apart around the sides. Windsor Castle is genuinely grand. I mean, you don't have to be American presidents and Americans generally are impressed by elderly English things, aren't they? But Windsor Castle, quite a part from... Like my good self, yeah. and it's got something about it that the palace hasn't got is that not fair? Well it's certainly got history it's nearly a thousand years old and they're managing to make the most of all of that he's going to lay a wreath at the late Queen's grave for instance for whom he held great affection and for him and Melania I imagine this is the real highlight of the tour there is work to be done when he goes to meet the Prime Minister in Chequers on Thursday there are deals to be announced there's even some negotiations to go on But that's not what he's interested in.

5:05He's interested in seeing and being seen among the royal family. And I think probably quite particularly a rather glittering state banquet that will be held in Windsor Castle in his honour tonight. And of course, you know, there's nothing Donald Trump loves more than being honoured. And particularly if members of the British royal family are there to do it. Last night, did he stay, did he sleep in the, you know, is it called Winford House? What's it called? The ambassador's residency. Winfield House. Yeah, Winfield House. I mean, the thing is about Winfield House. So it's this amazing, I mean, it's incredibly central for people who don't know London.

5:40Winfield House, this huge residence that the American ambassador traditionally has. I think it was a wealthy guy who gave it to the United States, didn't he, originally a long time ago. But it has this incredible garden and into which you can go by helicopter, which is quite convenient when you don't want to be on the snarled up streets of London and when you're staying away from the public. I would have liked to see Trump on an e-bike. I think that would have been quite good. Yes, it would have been the other way of getting there. And of course, you know, the fact of the matter is that he isn't going to see much of ordinary people.

6:17and his relationship or the relationship of Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London to the Trump administration, is still poor and Sadiq Khan on the day of the visit coming out and saying we ought to be tougher on Trump, basically implicitly criticising Keir Starmer and saying we need to talk to him about what he, Khan, regards as his hate-filled rhetoric, etc, etc. So there are reasons why it's being held behind closed doors as it is And that, I suppose, Mariana, is, you know, that's not a part of the trip that the Trump administration is keen to talk about. And it's not a part of the trip the British government is keen to talk about.

6:55But we ought to say it's a fact. This is not a state visit in the normal way that you sort of parade around and millions of cheering people come and throw their hats at you. Yeah, funnily enough, Donald Trump didn't mention that himself when he was explaining to reporters what he wanted for the trip. And that was when he left the US for London. Well, my relationship is very good with the UK and Charles, as you know, who's now king, is my friend. And it's the first time this has ever happened where somebody was honored twice. So it's a great honor. And this one's at Windsor. They've never used Windsor Castle for this before.

7:28They use Buckingham Palace. And I don't want to say one's better than the other, but they say Windsor Castle is the ultimate, right? So it's going to be nice. But basically up there also on trade. They want to see if they can refine the trade deal a little bit. We've made a deal and it's a great deal. And I'm into helping them. Our country is doing very well. We've never done this well. We're having trillions of dollars coming because of the tariffs. And they'd like to see if they could get a little bit better deal. So we'll talk to them. But primarily it's to be with Prince Charles and Camilla.

8:00They're friends of mine for a long time, long before he was king. Since Donald Trump said that as he was leaving the White House, we have actually heard that Britain is not going to get a little bit of a better deal on tariffs, as he said there. And in fact, they're not going to be discussing the steel and aluminium tariffs, which were the one kind of outstanding bit of the US-UK trade agreement that hadn't quite been signed off. They're not going to get a break. They're still going to be tariffed at 25%. But actually, that's better than the 50 % tariffs for steel and aluminium tariffs from every other country that are being imported into the United States.

8:34But it's not getting any better than that. But of course, as he's leaving to come on this trip, which, as I say, is, you know, a lot of it's ceremonial. It's not that political. Donald Trump is leaving behind an absolutely fevered situation in the United States, of course, after the assassination of Charlie Kirk. And very shortly after he leaves here, he will be going to Phoenix in Arizona to attend Charlie Kirk's funeral that's taking place at the beginning of next week. And so I think there's a real contrast, don't you think, Justin, between the kind of heat of the debate there, the passions that have been invoked on both sides of what's quite a nasty argument for this terribly polite kind of affair at Windsor for the president.

9:19Yeah, exactly. It is a respite for him, isn't it? And it's a respite in a way as well for the British government who've had massive troubles of their own, including, of course, with their ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson. And so, I mean, I think the hope on both sides, well, I mean, we know, don't we, the hope on both sides. And I think I wonder if this means that Donald Trump will be a bit better behaved. Interesting to hear what you think about that, Sarah, whether he might be a little bit better behaved when it comes to the news conferences. And as much as he doesn't want this to be about a sort of falling out because he's got plenty of those at home.

9:54And he generally likes fallings out, of course, and appreciates them and they work for him politically. but do we think this might in the end be a little bit smoother as a visit than perhaps some people have suggested? Well, the great potential pitfall, of course, is a press conference at Checkers with journalists from both sides of the Atlantic asking the president and the prime minister questions. And, you know, they can't control what comes up, obviously. And will the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein come looming over this situation? Now, you're right, just nobody wants this to blow up. And in fact, of course, Keir Starmer and Donald Trump would rather not talk about this at all.

10:30They've both got their own political problems with Jeffrey Epstein. No matter how well planned it is, and Marianne, Justin, I think we all know this, Donald Trump can't necessarily control what comes out of his mouth in the heat of the moment. If he is provoked by a question that he doesn't like, then who knows what he's going to say and what kind of problems could ensue. There was an amazing moment yesterday as he was leaving the White House, as he gave that clip that we just played there, he was asked other questions. and one by an Australian journalist he didn't like, about whether he was making more money in office than any other president ever had done before, or whether that was appropriate.

11:06He got really angry with him. My kids are running the business. I'm here. You know what the activity... Where are you from? I'm from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Paul Cornyn Program. You're hurting Australia right... In my opinion, you are hurting Australia very much right now. And they want to get along with me. You know, your leader is coming over to see me, very soon. I'm going to tell him about you. You said a very bad tone. Go ahead, John. So, yeah, that's a journalist being scolded for asking questions the president doesn't like. Who knows what could happen at Chequers? Because he finds British journalists really quite cheeky, might be the polite way of putting it, compared to some Americans.

11:43You'd imagine as well that Jeffrey Epstein will come up. Jeffrey Epstein, who perhaps he's flown over here to try and escape a little bit, because there's been a lot of criticism of his connections to Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump, even though he has made very clear that they fell out and that he wasn't, he says, party to any wrongdoing or connected to that in any way. But there was this image that was projected, it's been going really viral on social media, actually, of Donald Trump with Jeffrey Epstein and various photos and a timeline of their relationship. And it was being projected onto Windsor Castle.

12:16I think some people, four people now, have been arrested in relation to that. But you imagine that he won't be able to escape that conversation, Justin. while he's here. Yeah, no, he won't. And what's going to be really interesting is the vigour with which he responds to any questions that there are. And I was, when we were doing our American Answers thing on Five Live, we were wondering whether one of the things he might do is defend Peter Mandelson, which of course will be excruciatingly embarrassing, I think, for the Prime Minister, because he seemed to like Mandelson. And I don't know whether he'll be briefed, certainly by the Brits, that they'd rather he didn't, but he might do.

12:53But also if he's asked, I mean, to the point that Sarah's just making, if he's asked really pointed questions about his own relationship with Epstein and if that comes from a British accent and if he's annoyed by it, you know, who knows what sort of tangent he'll go off on. Or a Scottish accent even. Or a Scottish accent. Yes, quite right. Fingers crossed. Yes, I haven't been issued my accreditation from the White House yet to say that I can get into the press conference, but I am eagerly watching my inbox, hoping that it will arrive at any moment. Behind the scenes, Sarah, this would be interesting to people.

13:33In the old days, i.e. when I was doing your job, you got a tip-off that you were going to get a question to the president. Did they still do that, or with Trump is it much more freewheeling? And I'm talking both about W. Bush and also Obama. Yeah, it used to be the case. It wasn't it. There would pretty much be two questions to each side, two from Brits, two from Americans. And whoever was going to be asking those questions would know in advance. Very often, for instance, the BBC's political editor will be assigned by the prime minister to get one of the questions. No, no, no. With Donald Trump, it is an absolute free for all.

14:06He will just pick people out of the crowd, not necessarily in the front row. Often it's people he knows who are often covering him in the Oval Office or famous faces from television because that's what Donald Trump loves the most. But if you catch his eye for whatever reason, there's every chance that he'll take a question. And it can go on and on and on. I mean, remember the last time he was with Keir Starmer in this kind of environment was at Turnberry when he was visiting Scotland about six weeks ago. and that went on for about an hour and a half taking questions on anything and everything from all of the journalists in the room while the Prime Minister was sort of trapped besides him listening to all of this.

14:44Yeah, I mean, there have been. I mean, you put me in mind now of our dear friend Nick Robinson who used to really get under the skin of George W. Bush, didn't he? And come into the point that it was really quite kind of, and this is in obviously the pre-Trump days when generally these things were done with some decorum. But Nick used to ask very pointed questions when he came over to the States and would really unnerve George W. Bush. Nick Robinson, BBC News. Mr. President, the Iraq study group described the situation in Iraq as grave and deteriorating. You said that the increase in attacks is unsettling.

15:23That will convince many people that you're still in denial about how bad things are in Iraq and question your sincerity about changing course. It's bad and erect. Does that help? Why did it take others to say it before you've been willing to acknowledge it to the world? You know, in all due respect, I've been saying a lot. I understand how tough it is, and I've been telling the American people how tough it is, and they know how tough it is. And the fundamental question is, do we have a plan to achieve our objective? Are we willing to change as the enemy has changed? about making sure you understand that I understand it's tough.

16:00But I want you to know, sir, that I believe we'll prevail. I know we have to adjust to prevail, but I wouldn't have our troops in harm's way if I didn't believe that one, it was important, and two, we'll succeed. Thank you. Prime Minister, if I may, briefly. Yeah. You're not going to do a follow-up, are you? No, no, forgive me. I just wanted to ask you about your Middle East mission, if I may. And there is just that sense, isn't there? And at Turnberry, you had it, didn't you? That kind of sense that he's just going to keep on going. And the pool of questioners, as it were, will get bigger and bigger.

16:38And the ability of anyone to control who the questioners are gets less and less. And it all gets much more interesting. So I imagine the Brits will want to put a pretty firm kibosh on it quite early doors. But if Trump just wants to go on talking, I'm not sure they're really going to be able to stop him, are they? No. Now, of course, before we get to that point, there are behind the scenes talks, not least with Trump. They're our family today. And we've actually Ian on Discord wants to know how free and frank will the conversation be between Trump and King Charles? and is it there that the special relationship is really cemented?

17:18That's a very interesting one because Charles is going to have to be incredibly diplomatic about this, isn't he? Because let's say he and Donald Trump are not ideological fellow travellers, I wouldn't say, Justin. They're friends, according to Trump. I thought that was quite a nice line. I'd love to have been with King Charles when he heard that news. I mean, it is a fact, isn't it? Look, I mean, let's be blunt about this. neither you Sarah nor I nor Marianne are particular experts in the royal family or would claim to have any kind of behind the scenes sense of of how Charles genuinely feels about Trump any more than anyone else except to say that you know we ought to know Charles went to Canada in quite a pointed way didn't he to open parliament in Canada at a moment when Canada felt under maximum pressure and albeit that these deals are done by governments and obviously the Canadian government would have come to the British government but I think you know he did it with some enthusiasm and I think when it comes to their politics it seems to me that they've sort of they've got a way of getting on as people without necessarily going into huge details about what they genuinely think about life and I just think there's an awful lot of of King Charles that would be completely outside the kind of epistemological orbit of Donald Trump, if you could put it like that.

18:44I mean, just things that Trump would never have considered, and in a sense, vice versa as well. But I'm not sure that necessarily means that they won't be able to get on, even in private, because they will have plenty that they'll be able to talk about. They're both consequential people, and consequential people kind of always do get on, don't they? Charles, his big issue is the environment and conservation, isn't it? Look at what Donald Trump is doing. He is going backwards on fossil fuels in the United States. He's actively attacking renewable energy sources. He has no interest in environmental conservation.

19:17He's talking about drilling in protected sites in Alaska, as well as all over the United States. I mean, given how central that is to Prince Charles's work and life up until this point, it's difficult to imagine how he could have much respect for somebody whose policy is moving in that direction. Now, I'm sure he won't let on any of this at all. But yeah, I think underpinning it, whatever you think about Gaza, Ukraine, immigration, income tax rates, you name it, that environmental stuff's got to cut pretty deep. And another issue that very easily could come up over the next couple of days, really, is freedom of speech, freedom of expression, which, I mean, has been for a while such a major talking point in the US, but particularly has come to the fore in light of the assassination, the killing of Charlie Kirk.

20:06And I mean, you need only look at X, for example, to see how Elon Musk and other very loud political voices, often very loud pro-Donald Trump voices, have serious concerns about the issue of freedom of expression in the UK. But interestingly, what seems to be unfolding in the US right now is almost a mirror of conversations that have happened in the UK. People saying, oh, hang on a second. okay we believe in absolute freedom of expression but when it involves hate speech or violent rhetoric that could have contributed for example to a killing like Charlie Kirk's then we've got an issue with it and this is what Pam Bondi the Attorney General had to say about that issue of free speech and hate speech when she was speaking on the Katie Miller podcast.

20:48There's free speech and then there's hate speech and there is no place especially now especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society. Do you see more law enforcement going after these groups who are using hate speech and putting cuffs on people so we show them that some action is better than no action? We will absolutely target you, go after you if you are targeting anyone with hate speech, anything. And that's across the aisle. And then Donald Trump was actually asked about her comments before he travelled to London yesterday. Have a listen to this where he was talking to ABC News Chief Jonathan Karl.

21:27And what do you think Pam Bond is saying she's going to go after? Hate speech? Is that, I mean, a lot of people, a lot of your allies say hate speech is free speech. She'll probably go after people like you because you treat me so unfairly. It's hate. You have a lot of hate in your heart. Maybe they'll come after ABC. Well, ABC paid me$16 million recently for a form of hate speech, right? Your company paid me$16 million for a form of hate speech. So maybe they'll have to go after you. Look, we want everything to be fair. It hasn't been fair. And the radical left has got tremendous damage to the country.

22:01But we're fixing it. Classic Donald Trump there, of course. Now, the$16 million that he's talking about ABC having paid him was a case that they settled over something that one of their anchors, George Stephanopoulos, said about Donald Trump when he said that he was a convicted rapist when, in fact, that E. Jean Carroll case, technically in New York, it was sexual assault that he was found responsible for, not rape. Now, there's a big debate about whether ABC should have better defended that, but they decided to pay out to the White House and avoid a fight. So was that hate speech? Well, you debate.

22:34But, I mean, there's a lot to talk about here. Americans' criticism of Britain, which they think doesn't have free speech, the backlash that Mariana was just describing after the Charlie Kirk killing, But also the way Donald Trump's going after the press. I mean, there was that case. He's launched a new suit against the New York Times, which, as far as I can see, is for not being very nice about him. He's suing them, as well as the$10 billion that he's suing the Wall Street Journal for over saying that he wrote that letter in the Epstein birthday book. So, you know, he is not shy about going after the press and trying to stop them from criticising him.

23:09But that's not front and centre here. Is it just that there's a different question about citizens' free speech and whether the authorities can go after them? Yeah. And whether Pam Bondi has the foggiest notion of the Constitution. And this is a criticism that's coming not from the left, but from the right, from a lot of conservatives, Americans who say, what is this hate speech of which you talk? This is a British thing. This has nothing to do with us. You can say anything you like in America, provided you don't foment violence. And the Supreme Court in the past has had a very high bar traditionally for the fomenting of violence and for something that you say actually being illegitimate, not allowed.

23:54Generally speaking, Americans can say what the heck they like, including if they want to celebrate the death of someone. And there have been plenty of people, tragically, you might think, celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk, leaving his widow and his two young kids. Some of those people, school teachers, some of them university administrators, et cetera, et cetera. and lots of people on the right have been saying that's an outrage and Pan Bondi seems to be acting as a result of that and some of them have been losing their jobs but also lots of people on the right have been saying hang on a second you're meant to be allowed to do that under the American system and what on earth is Pan Bondi on and I thought it was quite telling actually those two clips we've just played that i mean trump he didn't really answer the question did he um about where the limits are but there are people losing their jobs at the moment right around america because of things they've said about uh charlie kirk and of course on the left you know in a sense they don't have a leg to stand on because of cancel culture or what the left used to call um consequence culture didn't they that people have lost their jobs for all sorts of things they've said, particularly about racial stuff in the past.

25:12It's not a new thing to lose your job because of something you've said online. But generally on the right in America, you are meant to think that the Constitution gives you the right to say anything, pretty much. And it's weird, I think, that Pan Bondi has gone in another direction. What Pan Bondi is saying is the exact argument that people on the other side of the political spectrum have been making for quite a long time about whether there are limits to sort of absolute freedom of expression and whether certain types of abusive rhetoric or violent rhetoric, ones that don't necessarily stray into being directly threatening, but that could be offensive in some way, are okay.

25:53A lot of this debate has actually centered most recently on social media. And someone like Elon Musk, when he bought X, came in and kind of tore up the rule book that had been established in terms of, you know, we'll allow people to say things and there's going to be a limit to that because we have policies. And if you violate them, then that content will be taken down. And what she said is very much the argument that so many people, including Donald Trump, have been very, very, very against in the United States. And I think you're right, Justin, to point out how there's a big difference between sort of, I guess, the British approach to hate speech and the American approach to hate speech.