A commentator argues that King Charles's attendance at America's 250th anniversary state dinner symbolizes the enduring power of institutions and decency, while Trump's antagonism toward the UK will fade to a historical footnote. Charles's visit during a celebration of independence from the Crown itself underscores the irony and the permanence of what outlasts any single leader's chaos.
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King Charles, a man who spent the better part of his adult life trying to be a symbol of dignity and continuity, is currently in the U.S. attending a state dinner hosted by Donald Trump. And we are all supposed to nod along like this is a perfectly normal Monday. Charles, the head of state for Canada and the constitutional monarch of 15 Commonwealth realms, was greeted warmly on the tarmac today by the president— oh, sorry, uh, an ambassador. It's my bad. Sorry, Trump only reserves those welcomes for his closest friends. The official reason Charles is there is that it marks the 250th anniversary of American independence, and what none of the American media seem to have pointed out is the deep, almost satirical irony of independence. The whole point of that anniversary is that the Americans told the Crown to get lost. The less official reason, the one everyone knows, is that Britain needs someone Trump actually likes to go in and smooth things over, because in less than 2 years, the American president has managed to destroy the relationship between the two countries He called the Prime Minister a loser, dismissed the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers as toys, and in the most bizarre affront to obvious history, he said of the UK, "We don't need people that join wars after we've already won." Books, Donald. I know words are hard, but like, just try one. Her Wikipedia page. There's a third reason Charles is there too, because he understands that the institutions of decency outlast the people who attack them. The monarchy, for all its contradictions, all of its problems, is one of the few symbols on Earth that genuinely transcends any single presidency. Trump won't be president of the US forever. He won't even be president for much longer in the grand sweep of things. But Charles represents something that has survived republics and revolutions and world wars with the invention of the internet, a global pandemic. So don't be angry. Charles isn't there to flatter Trump. He's there to remind anyone paying attention that decency has a longer track record than division. And that institutions built on cooperation and respect have outlasted every strongman, every fascist, every white supremacist who ever sneered at them. When this visit is studied 50 years from now, historians will note that a king crossed the Atlantic to hold together what a president was busy tearing apart. Trump, meanwhile, will be a footnote. A loud, exhausting, chaotic footnote. But the kind that future students skim over because they already know how it ends.
