CULTURE

Donald Trump Says Queen Elizabeth Made Him Wait 15 Minutes, Despite Video That Shows Her Waiting for Him

He's capable of being offensive to Queen Elizabeth both in person and thousands of miles away.

by Marissa G. Muller

BRITAIN-US-DIPLOMACY-TRUMP
CHRIS JACKSON/AFP/Getty Images

Donald Trump’s latest falsity is too easy to fact-check, even for him. The president has claimed that Queen Elizabeth II made him wait upon their recent meeting at Windsor Castle, despite video that shows exactly the opposite.

While at a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump told the crowd of his recent trip to the U.K., “I landed and I’m on the ground and I’m waiting with the king’s and the queen’s guards,” as Politico notes. “I’m waiting,” he added. “I was about 15 minutes early, and I’m waiting with my wife and that’s fine. Hey, it’s the queen, right? We can wait. But I’m a little early.”

In reality, video captured the Queen waiting for Trump and checking her watch while doing so before he ultimately showed up over 10 minutes after their scheduled visit began. That was only one of three offenses he made during that same trip. Trump ultimately broke two other royal protocols: his and the first lady Melania Trump’s refusal to bow or curtsy when meeting the Queen—instead shaking her hand, a royal no-no if ever there was one—and Trump walking ahead of her, which also ranks high in the echelon of offenses to Her Majesty.

Notably, it’s at the president’s rallies where he does most of his lying, as The New Yorker recently pointed out. Lately, though, the president has been piling on the untruths even more than usual. When The Washington Post did a tally of all of Trump’s lies since he became president, the publication found that he has made almost twice as many lies this year than he did in his first year as president. In 2017, he lied 2,140 times, while over the past six months he’s lied 4,229 times, averaging 16 lies a day this summer alone. All in a day’s work then, we suppose.