It is quite common for foreign government officials to meet with opposition candidates prior to the election.
Even so, the report that Donald Trump met with the former UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, at Mar-a-Lago on Monday shook some trees.
Talking Points…
- The Trump meeting
- The response
- Analysis
The former UK PM is now serving as the UK Foreign Secretary. He was already in the United States to discuss Ukraine funding with American lawmakers. More specifically, Cameron wants to talk to Speaker Johnson (R-LA) about flooring the funding legislation as soon as possible. Cameron stated:
"Speaker Johnson can make it happen in Congress.
"I'm going to go and see him next week and say, 'Ukraine needs that money. It is American security, it's European security, it's Britain's security that's on the line in Ukraine, and they need our help.'"
Cameron later added:
"And I make that argument to anyone who will listen to me: I argue that it is extremely good value for money for the United States and for others, perhaps for about 5 or 10% of your defense budget, almost half of Russia's prewar military equipment has been destroyed without the loss of a single American life. This is an investment in United States security."
The meeting with Trump was a bit of a surprise to everyone, but Cameron dismissed it as nothing more than protocol during a presidential election cycle. Trump has been adamant that if he is elected, he can end this war in 24 hours. I am not sure anyone believes that will happen, but you can surely believe that Trump would pressure Russia to end the war, and Trump seems to have a bit more influence with Russia than Biden.
Needless to say, there was a bit of an uprising on the left over the meeting between Cameron and Trump at Trump's home in Florida. Some liberals pointed to the outrage over John Kerry meeting with Iranian officials before the 2020 election, but that is apples and oranges. Kerry was not running for president, and he had no authority or reason to be sitting down with Iran unless it was to undermine Trump's negotiating powers prior to the election to help Biden.
For that reason, Cameron started to take some heat in the media over the meeting, but he responded that this was "standard practice." After being called out for a meeting with Trump, Cameron stated:
"This was entirely in line with precedent of government ministers meeting with opposition politicians in the run-up to elections.
"I remember when I was prime minister meeting Mitt Romney when he was a candidate. I remember Gordon Brown meeting Barack Obama when he was a candidate, and I think Tony recently had a meeting with Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, in Munich. So these things are entirely proper."
This meeting brings the reality of this election squarely in the face of Democrats. As an opposition candidate, Trump has every right to meet Cameron, so any comparisons to this meeting with Kerry's meetings during the 2020 cycle are utterly ridiculous. If I were Trump, I would schedule more of these meetings to show the American people he is serious about fixing the issues that have decimated the Biden administration.
Trump tends to make the news cycle about himself, but he needs to make it about making things better for the American people and restoring the image of the United States as a respected and feared world power again. Meeting with these officials will show strength as well as the fact foreign officials are taking Trump seriously, which could go a long way with moderate and on-the-fence voters.
