British PM brings warmth, warnings to GOP
May’s speech touts conservative ideas
PHILADELPHIA — British Prime Minister Theresa May, speaking Thursday before a group of Congressional Republicans, warned President Donald Trump he cannot trust Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“When it comes to Russia, as so often, it is wise to turn to the example of President Reagan who — during negotiations with his opposite number Mikhail Gorbachev — used to abide by the adage, ‘Trust but verify’,” she said in a speech that drew repeated rounds of applause.
“With President Putin, my advice is to ‘engage but beware.’”
May also said she believed that Britain and America should never again invade foreign countries. “The days of Britain and America intervening in sovereign countries in an attempt to remake the world in our own image are over,” May said to GOP lawmakers at a retreat in Philadelphia.
The speech gave May the opportunity to present Republicans with a sweeping vision of what she depicted as their shared conservative worldview, one built on liberty, open markets, and universal rights.
Amid her lavish praise were constant reminders of just how far Trump has deviated from the conservative worldview she described. On trade, security, multinational institutions and, most conspicuously, on Russia, May laid out stances that are in keeping with a long tradition of Western consensus, but that Trump has unceremoniously discarded.
By raising the differences, without explicitly naming them, May almost seemed to be willing Trump to return to the fold of traditional transatlantic foreign policy.
This could be a critical moment for both leaders. With her country preparing to leave the European Union, May is gambling her position on her ability to forge new relationships beyond the continent, with a strengthened AngloAmerican bond at the top of her wish list.