Hundreds of thousands of people gather on British streets to show their opposition to Donald Trump as he visits the UK.

The largest rallies were in London, where an estimated 250,000 marched throughout the day to Parliament Square — overseen by a large Trump Man-Baby balloon — and to Trafalgar Square. In a day of celebration as well as challenge to Trump, music and cheering continued late into the night.

Meanwhile, Trump continued his mission of demolition on Friday, with more sniping at Germany and the European Union — even as he played down his assault on his host, Prime Minister Theresa May, in a Thursday interview.

On Wednesday, Trump sabotaged the NATO summit with a blasting of Germany and Chancellor Angela Merkel, proclaiming that it is Berlin — and not Trump, with his own Russian links — who is unsettling NATO through its import of gas from Russia.

Then, after a perfunctory declaration of a “great” relationship with Merkel — and the false boast that he had made NATO members step up defense expenditures — Trump turned against May.

In an interview with The Sun tabloid, Trump told the Prime Minister — embattled by hardline Brexiteers, including Ministers who have resigned this week — that she must choose between her trade proposal with the European Union and a trade deal with the US.

Trump endorsed Boris Johnson, May’s hard-Brexit rival who quit as Foreign Minister on Monday, as a “great Prime Minister”. And he continued his denigration of the Prime Minister by saying he would have been much more effective as a negotiator vs. the EU.

Trump Mission Accomplished?

Trump tried to cover the personal damage yesterday at his joint press conference with May, calling her a “terrific” person and — bizarrely — calling his own interview with The Sun “fake news”.

The ruse succeeded with much of the British press, but far from backing away, Trump pressed ahead with his mission against the EU, using May as a lever.

The Prime Minister immediately put her “Chequers plan” at risk by insisting, falsely, that she is free to make a full trade deal with the US.

In fact, the Chequers plan’s maintenance of a market for goods with the EU, accepting European standards and regulations, rules out a unilateral British deal with Washington that covers goods as well as services.

May pressed ahead, despite reporters pointing out the difficulty, and got some assistance from Trump who gave a vague and garbled assertion that a US-UK agreement would be possible.

The Prime Minister also gave more hostages to fortune, with a series of hard Brexit poses over movement of people and negotiations with the EU in areas such as fishing.

On the wider US-European alliance, there was no relief for London. On four occasions, Trump assailed Germany and the EU. He again threatened an expansion of US tariffs and derided the Europeans — in another false claim — for taking money from the US.

Trump’s concluding salvo against Berlin and Europe was so strident that May stepped in, giving a general statement before escorting the President away from the platform.

May gave way to Trump on a series of other issues. She said nothing about Trump’s pursuit of regime change in Iran, despite Europe’s line adhering to the July 2015 nuclear agreement. She offered no direct response to Trump’s assailing of immigrants, including the declaration of their danger to Europe, although the Prime Minister gave a cautious defense of Britain’s immigration policy.

Trump was unsettled by questions about his Monday summit with Vladimir Putin in Moscow, with reporters pressing the President on whether he would be embracing the Russian leader even as he allies America’s traditional allies.

Trump fumbled over whether he would take a firm line against Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, trying to shift blame onto Barack Obama, and he was incoherent when asked about Russian poicy in Syria.
But despite his lack of grasp of basic issues, Trump stuck to his central line of Russia as an equal: “They are a massive power and we are a very big power.”

The outcome appeared to be a victory for the long-time approach of Trump advisors who have promoted the dismantling of multilateral agreements and institutions.

Throughout the week, Trump’s former campaign manager and White House chief strategist, the hard-right activist Steve Bannon, has been running an operations room in London for networking and promotion.

Soon after the Trump-May press conference, Trump-Bannon ally Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party, was on the BBC. He beamed as he explained how Trump had successfully exposed the folly of Prime Minister May’s approach to the EU.

It was a celebration in marked contrast to that of the 250,000 nearby who continued to chant against Trump’s policies and behavior.