Editorial: President Trump's outrageous slur against the troops of America's close ally, the United Kingdom

​Once again Donald Trump has demeaned his office, the presidency of the world’s superpower, this time by insulting British soldiers who died alongside Americans.​

In deplorable comments, President Trump belittled by implication the sacrifice of troops from the UK in Afghanistan, almost 500 of whom lost their lives, several of them from Northern Ireland.

He questioned whether Nato allies would “be there” if the United States “ever needed them,” claiming that the alliance’s troops “stayed a little back” from the frontlines in Afghanistan.

This is nonsense and an outrageous slur on our military, even though he did not mention Britain. We stood shoulder to shoulder with the US in two world wars, then in Korea, and latterly in two gulf wars, as well as in Afghanistan. We have been one of the most consistent allies of the US over the last century, as well as a trusted security and intelligence partner.

It might ordinarily seem petty to point out that Mr Trump, like so many men of his generation, dodged service when his own country was at war against Vietnam, but given his own remarks it is fair to point out that he is not in a strong place to talk about holding back from the frontline.

An alarming aspect of President Trump’s leadership of the free world is the way in which he seems not to appreciate America’s closest allies, and can at the same time appear to be lenient towards the west’s most mortal enemies, including Russia and China.

President Trump has got many things right, such as putting an immediate halt to out-of-control immigration and trying to repatriate illegal arrivals in his country. He was certainly right to get Nato to spend more on defence. But threatening Nato allies like Canada and Denmark, and insulting his close Nato ally, the UK, must be called out in unequivocal terms.