“I am sure we can get along if he doesn’t try to give me too much soft soap,” Harry S Truman said of Winston Churchill. Soft soap (flattery) has been Britain’s lubricant for the “special relationship” since Churchill took office in 1940. It is also Sir Keir Starmer’s preferred balm, which is just as well because Donald Trump is no Truman. Flattery is mandatory with Trump, although it only gets you so far. Think of it as the entrance fee to a club that charges a bomb for the house soda.
“我確信，只要他不對我說太多的恭維話，我們能相處得很好，”當年哈里?S?杜魯門(Harry S Truman)在談到溫斯頓?丘吉爾(Winston Churchill)時表示。自1940年丘吉爾出任英國首相以來，恭維話一直是英國維持“英美特殊關(guān)系”的潤滑劑。這也是基爾?斯塔默(Keir Starmer)偏愛的寒暄方式；幸虧如此，因為唐納德?特朗普(Donald Trump)可不是杜魯門。要同特朗普打交道，恭維是必不可少的——盡管它的作用有限。不妨把它想象成一家俱樂部的入場費，而這家俱樂部的招牌汽水價格高得驚人。