The d-day anniversary comes straight after donald trump’s state visit. Which is more important? | thearticle

On June 6, the free world will mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day. It will be the last major commemoration of the liberation of Europe that we can share with living veterans. For many,

however, D-Day will be overshadowed by T-Day: the arrival of Donald Trump. The Presidential state visit begins on June 3. Just three days before the anniversary, the juxtaposition of the two

events will strike many as badly timed. Yet Britain’s special relationship with the United States has endured throughout war and peace. Trump is seen here at best as America’s most

unpredictable President, at worst as a man unworthy to lead his country. We need to recognise, though, that it is an honour for this country that the President of the United States will be

our guest on the eve of an occasion full of significance for the Atlantic alliance. We won’t be allowed to forget about his personality — Trump himself can be relied upon for that — but it’s

more important to think about the great nation he represents. Without the armed intervention of the United States in two world wars, without its presence here during the Cold War, without

its continued vigilance on our behalf today, Britain would not be the free and flourishing country we live in today. Alone, we could never have defeated Nazi Germany. And but for the Allied

invasion of Europe, the Iron Curtain might have begun at the English Channel. Today, some fear that the Trump administration is too dangerous to be trusted. Last Friday we published an

article by Ian Linden that accused the US National Security Adviser, “the belligerent John Bolton”, of seeking to embroil the West in war with Iran. I do not agree with Professor Linden. In

my view, John Bolton, a man I have known and respected for many years, is right to have broken with the failed foreign policy of Barack Obama. In an article for _Standpoint_, he once

characterised Obama as “the post-American president”. Trump’s “America First” slogan is not to everyone’s taste, but an assertive American foreign policy is actually necessary if the power

vacuum is not to be filled by those whose values and purposes are inimical to the West. Since John Bolton and Mike Pompeo joined the Trump administration last year, it has increased pressure

on regimes that are hostile to their neighbours, such as Iran, and those that are hostile to their own peoples, such as Venezuela. Europe has been obliged to make up its mind whose side it

is on. This makes Europeans uncomfortable. Last week, Angela Merkel lumped America together with China and Russia among the “superpowers” which are “challenging” Europe. Yet Europe, more

than anywhere on earth, must never forget its past — including its debt to the United States. It is quite wrong for a German Chancellor, of all people, to pretend that our American ally is

to be treated with the same suspicion as China and Russia. It is not Donald Trump who sends agents to poison people in Salisbury, or launches a full-scale assault on democracy in Ukraine, or

incarcerates millions of Uighur Muslims in Chinese “re-education camps”. We don’t have to agree with US foreign policy, but we should beware of accusations of “warmongering” that resurface

every time a president reminds us that there really are “evil empires” in the world. If Huawei is deprived of software and components from the US because the company is suspected of acting

as an arm of Chinese intelligence, the least Europe can do is to take American warnings seriously. If sending warships to the Gulf is the price of protecting our allies in the region and

deterring Iranian aggression, then it is worth paying. Donald Trump will receive a noisy reception when he comes here in just over a fortnight. Peaceful protest is part of any healthy

democracy, whether the President likes it or not. But we shouldn’t allow our political differences, most of which are transient, to obscure the lasting values that bind us together: a shared

love of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We also share a history. D-Day and all it stands for looms incomparably larger than the pomp and circumstance of a presidential state

visit.