After 15 months in the White House, it has become clear there is no correct way for American allies to deal with President Donald Trump. And pretty much every tactic has been tried.
Shinzo Abe, the prime minister of Japan, sped down to Mar-a-Lago soon after the election, where he gamely played a round of golf. Unfortunately, it didn’t win him any special consideration when Trump announced sweeping aluminum and steel tariffs earlier this year, nor did it prevent the president from embarrassing him with inopportune tweets.
Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain also rushed to Washington to play nice and call for a “special relationship” just after the election, but she too has been attacked directly on the president’s Twitter feed; worse, her performance at the White House — including a photograph holding the president’s hand — has been regularly mocked by her own compatriots ever since.