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President Donald Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom which begins on Wednesday (September 17), arrives at a fraught juncture for Anglo-American relations, encapsulating the contradictions of a US empire straining to maintain dominance amid global challenges. The visit must be viewed through the lens of US imperialism, where economic coercion, military alliances, and (rapidly waning) soft power mask a deeper crisis of legitimacy.

Trump’s engagement with Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Gaza, Ukraine, NATO, and trade agreement and trade tariffs, and China, reveals a US struggling to reconcile its stridently unilateralist impulses with the demands of an increasingly multipolar world. This visit will test the British political leader’s ability to navigate his country’s subordinate role while exposing the limits of overweening American global domination.

Further exacerbating tensions, and exposing the rot at the heart of Anglo-American elite politics and culture, is the dismissal of Peter Mandelson as London’s ambassador to the United States. Erupting scandals tied to Jeffrey Epstein – both on the British side regarding Mandelson and on Trump’s own doorstep with his past associations, congressional investigations, and ongoing legal battles – threaten to cast a pall over the pomp and pageantry of a state visit.

These developments inject an additional layer of diplomatic awkwardness and public scrutiny that could undermine the visit’s optics and agenda.

Mandelson was slated to play a pivotal role in coordinating the state events, including bilateral talks on trade and security. His exit leaves a vacancy in the most critical diplomatic posting, potentially disrupting preparations and forcing an interim appointee to navigate the Epstein fallout. Critics, including an online petition with over 170,000 signatures urging Starmer to cancel Trump’s visit altogether, argue it highlights the UK government’s vulnerability to Epstein-linked embarrassments.

The visit will reignite domestic tensions. While over 100,000 people supported a far right march in London  against migrants, 60% of Britons view Trump unfavourably and just 37% of the public see the US in positive terms.

Starmer’s appointment of the Blairite Mandelson as envoy to Washington reflected a pragmatic bid to charm Trump, which he did, but the UK’s concessions – such as tariff reductions on US goods – reveal its weak bargaining position. The prospect of a strengthened partnership is tempered by the reality that Britain’s alignment with US priorities often comes at the expense of its European ties, which is emblematic of US hegemonic control.

Mass street protests are already brewing, with the Stop Trump Coalition vowing “even bigger” demonstrations than the 250,000-strong “carnival of resistance” in 2019, including revivals of the infamous Trump baby blimp. Mandelson’s sacking amplifies calls from Scottish nationalists and Greens to scrap the trip, framing it as rewarding Trump’s “misogyny, racism, and xenophobia.”

It remains to be seen if the far right will use the occasion to raise their flags in........

© The Wire