AMBASSADOR/BRITAIN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump celebrates his bond with Queen Elizabeth II. He is less charitable about those who serve her. On Monday [7-8-19], Mr. Trump said the White House would no longer deal with the British ambassador to the United States after the envoy described the Trump administration as “clumsy and inept” in confidential cables that were leaked. The president also accused Prime Minister Theresa May of botching Britain’s negotiations to leave the European Union, reviving a critique he first leveled against her a year ago. Mr. Trump’s criticisms, delivered in a pair of midday tweets, were a rude farewell to Mrs. May and a British leadership that is likely to be replaced in the coming weeks by harder-line, pro-Brexit forces more to the president’s liking. In his rebuke of the ambassador, Sir Kim Darroch, Mr. Trump came close to declaring him persona non grata — an extraordinary breach between the United States and one of its closest allies. The British government scrambled to repair the damage, dispatching its trade minister to Washington to apologize to the president’s elder daughter, Ivanka Trump.”
–Mark Landler, “Leaked British Cables Critical of Trump Lead to Diplomatic Uproar,” The New York Times online, July 8, 2019