As the elections in November draw near, Donald Trump’s days in the White House may be numbered, especially if the polls against former vice president Joe Biden translate to the votes. It appears that the United Kingdom is also gearing up for the possible change in the US presidency.
Some officials in Boris Johnson’s government have reportedly approached top Democrats in the hopes of arranging a trade deal following the country’s exit from the European Union. Business Insider reports UK ministers have already approached senior Democrats in an effort to make sure that there will be support from Washington.
This comes especially at a time where Biden leads Trump in many public opinion polls including those in battleground states, states that Trump needs to maintain a win over if he wants to get reelected. The former vice president already leads Trump by an average of 7.5 points in the polls.
According to UK Trade Minister Greg Hands, while ministers do not usually come up with a strategy to maintain support from the US around election season, “We do make sure for the overall UK trade agenda that we maintain bipartisan support in the US political system.” Hands also noted that he has spoken to several Democratic senators, members of Congress as well as Democratic state governors.
Johnson’s administration reportedly gave up on the hopes of a possible free trade deal with the US back in July. Having a free trade agreement would mean a political win for the UK prime minister who plans on utilizing the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union to strike bilateral deals with other countries.
Meanwhile, it appears that more Republicans, especially lifelong Republicans, are planning to vote Democratic in the upcoming elections to defeat Trump in November. Biden received yet another endorsement from a Republican, this time, it is from former senior Trump administration official Miles Taylor, who served as Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen’s chief of staff. Taylor would be the highest-ranking former Trump officials to make such an endorsement.
Taylor made his support known in a video from the group Republicans Against Trump. Taylor accused Trump of using his office for political purposes, citing one instance that Trump wanted to cut funding for wildlife relief in California as voters from the state did not support him back in 2016.