Welcome to Wednesday’s Washington Secrets. British officials last night unveiled plans for the King’s state visit, which runs from April 27 to 30. The emphasis? Less president, more people. Plus, we take a look at the Rose Garden photo op that was sort of fake but not totally fake. And is JD Vance starting to make his move?
King Charles III will meet President Donald Trump at least five times during his state visit at the end of the month.
He will sit down for a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office and share toasts at a state dinner.
But you would be forgiven for thinking that the White House and its main resident were just one stop on a broader American visit, according to briefings given by British officials.
“Their Majesties are here to join the U.S. people in celebrating 250 years of friendship, common history and common values,” said a senior British official during a briefing call with American media on Tuesday evening. “There will be a real emphasis on people-to-people links, that is, both the historic connections as well as the modern bilateral relationship.”
Charles’s visit comes at a particularly turbulent time in trans-Atlantic relations.
With Trump’s strikes on Iran desperately unpopular in Britain and the president’s repeated potshots at the country’s prime minister and its armed forces, the theme for the tour might as well be “don’t mention the war,” to borrow from the famous Fawlty Towers episode.
Or the politics. Which could be hard with a president famous for putting Oval Office guests in a tight spot in front of the cameras.
This time around, the meeting is scheduled to be very private.
MIKE JOHNSON INVITES UK ROYALS TO GIVE JOINT ADDRESS TO CONGRESS ON 250TH YEAR OF INDEPENDENCE
And besides the pomp of the White House, officials are stressing the “people-to-people” meetings. There will be a visit to New York, with an event to commemorate the 25th anniversary of 9/11 as well as a reception to celebrate the work of the King’s charity for underprivileged young people.
Queen Camilla will mark the 100th birthday of Winnie the Pooh.
The final day of the visit brings a swing through Virginia. Think performances by Appalachian cultural groups and what officials said would be a “block party” as part of the American 250th anniversary celebrations.
There will also be a trip to a national park, a reminder of the King’s keen interest in the environment.
“As well as all of the high pageantry and ceremony you expect in a state visit in Washington, D.C., their Majesties will meet Americans in cities, towns, and rural communities,” said the official. “We want to showcase the strength and breadth of the alliance. “This is not about politics.”
The King, under the complicated norms and traditions of the British constitution, stays out of politics anyway.
But Trump is famous for turning any occasion into a chance to put guests on the spot or pit competing political interests against one another. Can he refrain from a dig at Sir Keir Starmer, the King’s prime minister?
On Wednesday morning, even with details of the state visit fresh in the headlines, the president was threatening to rip up Washington’s trade deal with London.
No wonder the itinerary minimizes any possible awkward moments with just a single full day in Washington.
Still, British officials will be hoping that Trump, who inherited his love of the royal family from his Scottish mother, follows the same playbook he used during his own state visit to Windsor Castle, when he was on very best behavior.
Was the DoorDash delivery faked? Sort of…
When a DoorDash delivery driver arrived at the doors of the Oval Office bearing bags of McDonald’s, President Donald Trump turned to the waiting reporters. “This doesn’t look staged, does it?” he said.
It was, of course. But the visit of Sharon Simmons, who styles herself “DoorDash Grandma,” lifted the curtain on how these photo ops are arranged and their pitfalls in an age when no one believes what they see online.
After the delivery, designed to highlight Trump’s measure removing tax from tips, Simmons told reporters that the visit had been a month in the planning.
And she said that she had made $11,000 from the new tax break in the past year, which had helped fund her husband’s cancer treatment.
“You do everything that you can,” she told reporters.
“And you know you go through your life savings, but this no tax on tips and the help from DoorDash is life changing.”
The answers from the Arkansas grandmother of 10 were too good to be true for some viewers.
They found her testimony last year to the House Ways and Means Committee in Nevada, where she made the case for “no tax on tips”.
So was she from Nevada or Arkansas? And was she a paid actor, asked social media users, who wondered why kept popping up at events.
You could hear the exasperation in the string of posts by Julian Crowley, the head of public affairs at DoorDash as he responded to reasonable questions that quickly spiraled into conspiracies.
“Nope she’s a Dasher and a grandma,” Crowley posted in reply to someone going by the handle @cryptojourneysrs. “She gave evidence to lawmakers to support No Tax on Tips. A policy which passed the Senate unanimously. She moved to Arkansas and then came to DC to celebrate No Tax on Tips becoming law.”
Later he admitted, to no one’s great surprise, that the delivery was not exactly spontaneous. After all, visitors have to be vetted.
“No one is claiming it was a real delivery. It was clearly and obviously a planned event to mark a new policy starting,” Crowley posted. “To claim Sharon is a prop, plant or an actor is totally wrong and off base. She is a Dasher and she participated to support the policy that benefits her.”
In the end, he had to tell one user to “touch grass” — in other words, get off the internet and go experience the real world for a bit.
Quote of the day
Vice President JD Vance was onstage in Georgia last night addressing a Turning Point audience. Inevitably, Pope Leo XIV’s row with Trump came up.
The issue is particularly thorny for Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019.
Once again, he defended the bombing of Iran against papal criticism, this time comparing it with defeating the Nazis in World War II.
But is there a hint of daylight between him and the president? Whereas in an earlier interview, the VP said the pope should stay out of American affairs, this time he struck a more pragmatic tone.
“It doesn’t bother me when he speaks on issues of the day, frankly, even when I disagree with how he’s applying a particular principle,” he said.
At some point, Vance will have to strike out on his own if he is serious about a 2028 run. Is this the start of refining his positions?
Lunchtime reading
David Axelrod’s art of political war: So just why was President Barack Obama’s campaign guru meeting with the Pope last week?
US allies won’t join Trump’s war — but they can’t escape the fallout: “Leaders who once tried to appease and flatter the world’s most powerful man are now daring to criticize him and seeking distance.”
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