Why the King’s soft power will be more important than ever in wake of shooting
TThe deployment of Britain’s most powerful soft power weapons to America will place King Charles at the center of Donald Trump’s increasingly irrational and chaotic world and demand that he demonstrate the quality of his weapons Froid sang.
Just days after the US president survived his third assassination attempt, the British monarch’s visit could not have come more recently.
Following the shooting incident at the Hilton Hotel on Saturday night, the US president described Charles as “brave” and it was confirmed that the trip was going ahead: “The King is coming and we are going to have a great time.
“He’s a great guy and we’re looking forward to it. He’s truly a great person, a great representative and brave. We’re going to have a great time. And he represents his nation like no one else can.”
When they land in America today, the King and Queen will be hosted by an administration effectively run by one man. Trump has shown that many of his top staff support his claims that he follows a divinely inspired path.
He did not put forward the idea that he ruled by divine right and left it to others. But he has come pretty close, posting photos of himself as Jesus or as the best friend of God’s son, and is increasingly showing signs that he believes his power is limitless.
As supreme governor of the Church of England, King Charles III represents his country as a constitutional monarch, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and other Kingdoms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth and Defender of the Faith.
He has a real role in religious leadership, but the most difficult for him is the ordinary; especially the Trump administration’s cavalier attitude toward truth, the rule of law (at home and abroad), and the U.S. constitution (including the separation of state from church).
Herein lies Britain’s soft power opportunity. At military parades, tea parties, garden parties, banquets and, most of all, in his address to both houses of Congress, Charles will have the opportunity to show his dignity where there are few.
While Sir Keir Starmer chooses to activate Trump’s most narcissistic tendencies and NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte resorts to direct personal disparagement, calling the US president “Dad” to keep him on his side, the King can overcome all this and show Americans that there is another way.
Trump will have plenty of opportunity for self-righteous buffoonery, but that may be tempered briefly by last weekend’s shooting. His deputy, Pete Hegseth, may make disparaging remarks about the “cowardice” of Britain and NATO. Paula White-Cain, Trump’s religious advisor, can feel the Holy Spirit coming upon her. All King Charles has to do is stay away from such shenanigans.
The indifference of the true head of a church, who is also a true king, in the face of Trump’s best will remind the U.S. president’s Republican voters of what style and dignity used to look like.
They will remember Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower and George Bush, both presidents, and wonder why the 47th official of the White House looked so grumpy around King Charles.
At the state banquet, they will turn their eyes to the TV table and see anti-vaccine zealots like Health Secretary Robert Kennedy, Vladimir Putin’s long-apologetic national security adviser Tulsi Gabbard, and Walter Mitty’s military service claimant Mark Mullin, and curl their toes in shame.
The Queen will hold meetings with groups campaigning against domestic violence and violence against women, which she has advocated for years.
If their visit to New York’s multicultural Harlem district goes ahead even as security measures are reviewed, the royal couple will quietly signal their disapproval of the Trump administration’s commitment to the racist conspiracy known as the “great replacement theory” – which posits that white Europeans are being replaced by non-white immigrants.
But these are quiet and meaningful gestures of principle.
The Queen will mark Winnie the Pooh’s centenary with a literacy event. It’s conceivable that the royal couple based their philosophy on how to master the American tour on the wisdom of Pooh and the contrasting reputation he brings: “Doing nothing often leads to the best of something”.
