Richard Davies is a journalist and podcaster. He runs the podcast consultancy, DaviesContent and co-hosts “How Do We Fix It?” and “Let’s Find Common Ground”.
You could be forgiven for thinking that this weekend’s coronation of King Charles III will be a right royal yawner. But history’s judgment could prove to be quite different.
As usual with great royal spectacles, Saturday’s lavish occasion will be full of pomp and ceremony. The soaring setting itself is remarkable. During a recent month-long stay in London, I spent several happy hours at Westminster Abbey, the one-thousand-year-old site of countless coronations of kings and queens. The Abbey is brimming with history and the greatest of all examples of Britain’s long and layered history.
Prince Charles himself has been described as stiff, formal, and awkward. He certainly waited long enough to take over the job from his "mum". But friends say he has a lively mind and a wry sense of humor. Charles may also be the UK’s most seasoned diplomat.
The new King speaks several foreign languages. A recent visit to Germany was widely viewed as a resounding success. He personally knows more international leaders than almost anyone else.
The King may well help his small island nation continue to punch above its weight. At the coronation alongside foreign royals and British political leaders will be EU President Ursula von den Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron and other top officials. Press reports in the UK suggest that Charles will play a leading role in healing the UK’s toxic relations after Brexit.
Americans may be bewildered at the relevance of the monarchy in modern times. The US media have recently played up reports of discontent and doubt. But the great problem for British republicans is the issue that dogs so many radical reformers: Once you tear down the monarchy and all of its traditions, who would you replace them with?
A directly-elected regime could end in tatters, as we saw last year with the demise of Boris Johnson— once the UK’s most popular politician.
This is not to say that the British are impervious to change. During the four decades since I last lived in London, the city has become brighter, less polluted and quieter with greater prosperity and racial diversity. A visit to several of the most prestigious law courts revealed that more than half of today’s up-and-coming solicitors and barristers are women.
The city's skyline and infrastructure underwent more alternations than either New York or Washington, D.C. London’s beautiful parks and efficient public transportation system would be the envy of any large U.S. city. Careful planning has helped bring a sense of order and shared pride in many public spaces.
Without doubt, the ill-advised Brexit break-up with Europe seven years ago has taken its toll on the economy. Growth has slowed to a crawl. According to the UK government's Office for National Statistics, the UK remains the only nation in the Group of Seven large industrial economies that has yet to fully recover its lost output during the COVID pandemic. Trade with the EU— still its largest trading partner— has fallen in recent years. Red-tape faced by businesses is considerably worse since the UK left the European single market and customs union.
But Brexit has not been the disaster that some EU “remainers” had forecast. The view south from Parliament Hill on Hampstead Heath revealed clusters of cranes at large building projects in several parts of the great city.
Perhaps in the old days London had more character and chaos. I went to two soccer games in April (the rest of the world calls the game football), and witnessed a few striking differences.
Today’s fans at both Loftus Road, home of Queens Park Rangers, and the mammoth new stadium built for Tottenham Hotspurs, were mostly good-humored and polite. Both games were family-friendly events. Beer is no longer drunk in large amounts in the stands and smoking is now banned. The most passionate supporters still sing and chant. But the old hordes of English football hooligans belong more to the storied past than the (mostly) stable present.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a“ Steel Across America” event ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks on the Ellipse near the White House on Sept. 8, 2026 in Washington, D.C. President Trump welcomed 9/ 11 first responders to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’ s“ Steel Across America” event featuring a 16,900- pound, 21- foot steel beam recovered.
For Trump, even 9/11 is an opportunity
There was a reason organizers of the 9/11 ceremony in Manhattan told President Trump he could not speak at this year’s memorial service.
A good one, it turns out.
Because in a speech he gave on Tuesday in Washington, he did exactly what they were presumably worried about — he made it about himself.
According to The New York Times, Trump had wanted a speaking role at the service, but the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum, which oversees the site, said no, as they’ve maintained for the past decade-plus that the venue and event should be nonpartisan.
Trump has long used awful tragedies to either puff himself up, trash political opponents, or sell lies to the American people.
He blamed a deadly plane crash at Washington National Airport last year on diversity, equity and inclusion policies. He blamed Puerto Ricans for the devastation they endured after Hurricane Maria in 2017. He reportedly considered withholding disaster relief after the California wildfires based on the way affected regions voted. In an interview on Fox News meant to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, he used the occasion to slam former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi…with graves of the dead behind him.
And now, as we approach the 25th anniversary of what many New Yorkers consider the darkest day in modern history, Trump has done it again.
He told a rambling, nonsensical story — one he’s told before — about going to Ground Zero just after terrorists flew two commercial jets into the twin towers. In the story, which no one has been able to verify, despite multiple attempts, he says firefighters had to carry him out of One Liberty Plaza, also known as the U.S. Steel Building, because they thought it was about to collapse.
As CNN fact checker Daniel Dale notes, there’s no evidence Trump went into this building, especially at a time when NYPD and NYFD had locked down the area. There’s no evidence that building was collapsing — in fact, it was deemed structurally sound and reopened within two months of the attacks. There’s no evidence he was carried out of it by firefighters.
But the lie isn’t even the worst part. Pretend it was all true — why would the leader of our country, and a New Yorker, decide to make that tragic day about himself?
Because that’s who Donald Trump is. He’s a malignant narcissist.
He’s also, incidentally, a terrible and ineffectual president, who’s made ill-fated decisions that he has to keep defending, and there’s nothing he won’t do to make himself look and feel better.
Within the first two minutes of his speech, he was cravenly using 9/11 to justify and promote his dumb war in Iran — two events separated by 25 years and 6,000 miles.
“And I will tell you, we’re right now fighting because we have a certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon, they were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance at getting it. They will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And they’ve been punished greatly. As you know, we’ve really taken it to them.”
As a New Yorker who lived through 9/11, still one of the worst days of my life, I’m utterly sickened by Trump’s crass, political, and self-promotional framing of that awful day.
And I’m relieved he won’t be given a platform to do it again on Friday’s anniversary in lower Manhattan.
Because for Trump, everything is his for the taking, and absolutely nothing is sacred.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.