Trump Has Some Surprising Words Of Praise For Starmer Despite Musk Row

Donald Trump has offered some surprising praise up to Keir Starmer despite not calling the UK PM during his first five days back in office.

The US president, who was inaugurated on Monday, is yet to follow tradition and speak to the UK prime minister since his second term.

But Trump seemed to defy concerns that he might be holding a grudge against the Labour leader when speaking to the BBC on board Air Force One on Saturday.

“I get along with him well. I like him a lot,” the president said.

“He’s liberal, which is a bit different from me, but I think he’s a very good person and I think he’s done a very good job thus far.

“He’s represented his country in terms of philosophy.

“I may not agree with his philosophy, but I have a very good relationship with him.”

And when asked where he might go for his first international trip since returning to the White House, Trump said: “It could be Saudi Arabia, it could be UK. Traditionally it could be UK.

“Last time I went to Saudi Arabia because they agreed to buy $450 billion of American United States merchandise.”

Trump also promised he would be talking to Starmer “over the next 24 hours”.

He has met the UK leader on multiple occasions, including when the Labour leader flew to Trump Tower in New York before the presidential election.

However, the delicate friendship they struck up at the time was quickly overshadowed by tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Now Trump’s informal adviser, Musk has initiated a war of words against Starmer ever since the PM was elected, calling the Labour leader “evil” and questioning his record as the director of public prosecutions over grooming gangs.

Even so, foreign secretary David Lammy said Starmer would be going to visit Trump in the US “within the next few weeks” last Sunday.

There are fears they could clash, as Trump wants to impose tariffs – which could weigh down an already embattled UK economy – and reduce the amount of military aid the US sends to the UK.

Labour’s plan to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is expected to cause further friction, because there is a UK-US military base on the archipelago, and Starmer’s pick for Washington ambassador – Peter Mandelson – has raised some eyebrows among Trump’s inner circle.

There’s also the Labour cabinet’s own very public criticisms of Trump over the years when they were in opposition which ministers have been trying to overlook.

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Trump Wants Canada As ’51st State,’ But Canadians Say No Thanks

Donald Trump once again suggested Canada give up being a sovereign nation and become America’s 51st state, and, once again, Canadians are saying no thanks — or in some cases, “eff off, eh.”

Although Canadian politicians have repeatedly called Trump’s suggestion “a joke,” the president insisted on Friday that Canadians would actually love to be part of the US because, he claims, the taxes would be lower.

He added that Canadians “wouldn’t have to worry about military, you wouldn’t have to worry about many of the things, you’d have better health coverage, you would have much better health coverage.”

You can watch Trump make his case to Canada below.

But based on the social media reactions, it doesn’t appear as if Trump is winning the hearts and minds of Canadian citizens.

Many people especially laughed at the notion that Canadians would want to give up socialised medicine for the US model of health care.

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Billy Ray Cyrus Speaks Out After Weird Trump Inauguration Performance

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Few people are singing the praises of Billy Ray Cyrus’ performance at the Liberty Ball celebrating Donald Trump’s inauguration — and the singer has blamed the bizarre set on technical issues.

On Tuesday, the country performer told People that he “wouldn’t have missed the honour of playing this event whether my microphone, guitar and monitors worked or not”.

“I was there because President Donald J. Trump invited me,” he said.

During his Monday night performance, the Billy Ray strummed his guitar and gravelly sang the lyrics to Old Town Road, his 2019 collaboration with Lil Nas X, while the song’s music video was shown behind him.

After the video ended, he continued playing Old Town Road on his guitar while whistling before attempting to sing the song a cappella.

“If you encourage me, I’ll keep going,” he said to the audience. “They told me to kill as much time as possible.”

Then, his guitar cut out as he tried to go into his 1992 hit, Achy Breaky Heart.

“Is my guitar still on? I think they cut me off. Is my guitar on, guys?” he called out to the tech crew.

“Is anybody awake?” he continued. “Where’s everybody at? Is anyone back there? Can somebody turn my guitar back on?”

Shortly after, two people from the tech crew came onstage to help Billy Ray with his guitar, but nothing worked. After a few more minutes, he resorted to performing a monotone, a cappella version of Achy Breaky Heart before finally exiting the stage.

As you might expect, the performance was mocked by some on social media, with one person even describing it as “the perfect metaphor for the next four years”.

Still, Billy Ray said that he had “a ball at the Liberty Ball” in his interview with People.

“I’ve learned through all these years when the producer says, ‘You’re on,’ you go entertain the folks even if the equipment goes to hell,” he told the outlet. “I was there for the people and we had a blast. That’s called rock ‘n’ roll!”

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