The New York Times said that King Charles’ rebuke of Donald Trump was “subtle.” I don’t think it was subtle at all. Rather, it was a historic example of how the English language, in the hands of those who know that language well, can beat the living daylights out of fools and be perfectly civil about it.
I think it was subtle, though, how Charles signaled in his opening joke that that’s what he intended to do. He referred to Oscar Wilde’s line, “We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language.” I can’t decide whether the Republicans in the chamber realized that they were being horse-whipped or whether they figured out that the politeness of Charles’ diplomatic language gave them plausible deniability.
Democrats were quick to rise to their feet and applaud when Charles upbraided the Trump administration. Charles upbraided even the Republicans in Congress, for not restraining executive power. Republicans, though, stood and applauded slowly and reluctantly. They had no choice, politically. How could they, as mere tyrant-enabling boot-scraping lickspittles, stonewall Charles the Third, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of His other Realms and Territories, King, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith?
Charles took a lot of heat in Britain for even coming to Washington, out of concern that it could be interpreted as some degree of approval of Trump. But that’s not how it went.
I wonder who wrote that speech. Charles, no doubt, was very much involved in deciding what he would say, not least because of his emphasis on the environment. If you have not watched the speech, it’s very much worth the time. It’s on YouTube.
Here you can see what Charles really thinks of Trump’s coarseness, as Charles almost wrestles with Trump to try to pull his hand away.
https://x.com/AdamJSchwarz/status/2048860957993001251/video/1