How Trump and Musk’s Interventions Pose a Diplomatic Challenge

In Donald Trump’s first term, governments around the world braced for his morning social media posts. What policy will be reversed, what will be scorned? Four years later, as the sun rises on America’s East Coast, diplomats are stirring once again.

In that time, they learned to take Trump – as the saying goes – “seriously but not literally”. Despite many campaign promises, he did not pull the US out of NATO or shut down Hillary Clinton. But can ministers be so desperate a second time?

Trump’s latest morning salvo criticized the UK government’s decision to raise taxes on oil and gas firms operating in the North Sea, in part to help fund renewable energy.

On his platform, Truth Social, Trump responded to a report about a US oil firm leaving the region, saying: “Britain is making a huge mistake. Open up the North Sea, get rid of the windmills! “

Was this just a familiar defense of the US firm by Trump and a reiteration of his pro-fossil fuel instincts? Or was it evidence of a greater willingness on the part of the president-elect to interfere in the ally’s own domestic policies?

The main difference — four years later — is that Trump is no longer alone at the keyboard. His increasingly powerful fellow traveler, Elon Musk, is even more capable, using his platform, X, to attack the British government in full. He has criticized his handling of last summer’s riots, the running of the economy and now, particularly, his handling of child abuse scandals.

Musk has issued a torrent of tweets personally attacking Sir Keir Starmer, accusing the prime minister of prosecuting child-rearing groups while he was director of public prosecutions. Not doing enough.

British politicians cannot block these posts from across the Atlantic. But they can control their reactions. During Trump’s first term, governments — and news desks — learned to pause for a moment before responding to or reporting on the White House’s latest electronic missiles.

So far, conservatives have chosen to engage with and echo Musk’s agenda. Party leader Cammy Badenoch said there would be a full national inquiry into organized grooming gangs. was “long overdue”..

But conservatives balked at Musk’s apparent support for jailed far-right activist Stephen Yaxley Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson.

Musk has shared several posts on X calling for Yaxley-Lennon’s release, He was sent to jail in October. After pleading guilty to contempt of court by repeating false claims against a Syrian refugee.

Alicia Cairns, the Conservative shadow defense minister, said it was “downright dangerous” for Musk to become a “Tommy Robinson-like tiger character”.

As for Labour, it wants to avoid a fight with one of the world’s richest men who could one day fund a rival political party. Nigel Farage’s Reform Party has said Musk is among “several billionaires” interested in donating to his campaigns.

Health Secretary Wes Stretting said Musk’s comments were about child grooming scandals. “Misunderstood and definitely misreported” But the billionaire was asked to work with the UK government to tackle online child abuse.

UK politicians are not alone in falling victim to Musk’s increasingly eccentric interventions. He has called German Chancellor Olaf Schulz an “idiot” and the country’s head of state, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, an “anti-democratic tyrant”. He also described Canadian President Justin Trudeau as an “intolerable tool” who “won’t be in power much longer”.

So once again the challenge for politicians in the UK and around the world is to do what, if anything, is capable of responding to these social media explosions and intrusions.

In Whitehall, there is some hope Arrival of Lord Mendelson As the new British ambassador could help stem the flow of personal corruption across the Atlantic.

Trump’s love for Britain and the royal family is also being weighed. He had a nice meeting with the Prince of Wales in Paris in December after the inauguration of Notre Dame.

Other officials are even thinking that the relationship between Trump and Musk could prove too combustible in office.

But for now officials are closely monitoring their timelines. American social media diplomacy is back and some of it is headed our way.