Jebus Effin' Krist - he's a lunatic - Donald Trump's first UK post-election interview: Brexit
a 'great thing'
US president-elect tells Michael Gove that Britain voted to leave EU because people ‘want their own id
Donald Trump has praised Britain as “smart” for opting out of a European Union that he believes is dominated by Germany and on the brink of collapse, in an interview with former Tory leadership contender Michael Gove.
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The president-elect promised to draw up a trade deal with the UK “quickly” after Brexit and said he could understand why voters chose to leave in last year’s referendum. “You look at the European Union and it’s Germany. Basically a vehicle for Germany. That’s why I thought the UK was so smart in getting out,” he told Gove.
Gove, the first senior Conservative to meet Trump, spent an hour chatting to the president-elect in what he called his “glitzy, golden man cave” in Trump Tower, New York, for an interview with the Times.
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Trump stressed his fondness for the UK and said other countries could follow its lead and leave the EU, something Gove predicted during the referendum campaign. “I believe others will leave. I do think keeping it together is not gonna be as easy as a lot of people think,” said Trump.
But Trump also underlined that he is likely to be a tough negotiating partner, threatening to slap a 35% import tax on BMW cars if the German company sticks to a decision to build a plant in Mexico. Such protectionism would risk retaliatory measures from Germany, which was the target of many of the most combative comments in the interview.
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Trump blamed the decision of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, to welcome refugees fleeing war in the Middle East, for jeopardising the stability of Europe. “I think she made one very catastrophic mistake and that was taking all of these illegals, you know taking all of the people from wherever they come from. And nobody even knows where they come from.
