(2) Departing the White House for the trip to Europe.
(3) Planning the day ahead in Brussels.
(4) The 2018 #NATOSummit was an important part of this trip to Europe.
(5) POTUS began his visit to Brussels with the roasting of Angela Merkel for colluding with Russia while shortchanging the USA, over breakfast with NATO head Jens Stoltenberg.😂
(6) POTUS and FLOTUS visited the US Embassy in Brussels and met with staff and family members from that mission and the missions to NATO and the EU.
(7) POTUS and FLOTUS walking down the steps before the official dinner event at the NATO Summit in Brussels.
(8) The President's press conference before departing the NATO Summit was epic. Foreign reporters were able to ask questions, and he talked about his successful efforts to increase the funding from those member countries who continue to freeload on the USA.
(9) Thursday was a particularly hectic day with NATO meetings, flying from Brussels to London, then the gala dinner at Blenheim Palace. Here they are at Stansted Airport and arriving at the US Ambassador's London residence, Winfield House.
(10) Wow, just wow.
The First Lady's evening gown was epic. They're walking out of Winfield House to Marine One in this photo.
(11) Marine One landed in a nearby field and The Beast brought them into the Blenheim Palace Courtyard.
(12) The military band included bagpipes, and when the piper played Amazing Grace, I think POTUS realized FLOTUS had probably asked for that, in a nod to his Scottish mother.
(13) The gown. The most beautiful First Lady ever.❤️
(14) Blenheim Palace.
(15) The welcome at Blenheim Palace was spectacular.
(16) On Friday morning, POTUS visited the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, the elite British army officer training school.
(17) POTUS then met with the PM at her country residence, Chequers. This photo is the Great Hall there.
(18) While at Chequers, POTUS was photographed sitting in Sir Winston Churchill's chair. This was released after the visit.
(19) POTUS and PM Theresa May got on extremely well throughout the visit... you can tell by the relaxed body language.
(20) The joint press conference at Chequers was another triumph, of the three memorable ones on this trip.
(21) While POTUS was at Chequers, FLOTUS visited a veterans hospital and school, and had a great time playing a game of lawn bowls. It turns out she takes competitive sports very seriously.😂
(22) FLOTUS playing lawn bowls in London.
(23) Really sweet photos of FLOTUS with an elderly veteran, a schoolgirl, and Philip May, husband of PM Theresa May.
(24) At Windsor Castle the Trumps were finally able to accept the Queen's personal invitation made in January 2017. It's clear from many of the photos that she really enjoyed their company. She has always shown her support for the USA, too.
(25) The Queen really enjoys good humor and was snapped laughing heartily while listening to the military band with POTUS and FLOTUS.
(26) After all the pomp and ceremony, they shared this informal moment with the Queen's top officials who ferried them to and from Marine One at Windsor Castle.
(27) Having attended multiple events throughout Friday, POTUS and FLOTUS were still high energy when they landed in Glasgow for a well earned break at Trump Turnberry.
(28) On Saturday, POTUS headed out to play golf for the first time in Scotland as President.
(29) POTUS laughing with son Eric, after waving at the tiny group of protesters on the nearby beach.
(30) POTUS willing the ball to drop into the hole.
(31) On Sunday afternoon the Trumps headed to Helsinki.
(32) Some of the supporters lining the route of the President's motorcade in Helsinki.
(33) Visiting the President and First Lady of Finland on Monday morning.
(35) The meetings in Helsinki were far more important than the press conference.
(36) The day after the end of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, the ball was passed to the 2022 host country, USA. It was then skillfully passed to #SMOTUS (Soccer Mom of the USA) for #TheExpert Barron Trump.
(37) Helsinki was added to the end of the trip at short notice, but the benefits of this diplomacy will have a long legacy for the US, Syria, Ukraine, & many other countries.
(38) Thank you for reading my photo threads and all your lovely comments.
The "complete set" of threads from this trip are linked here:
(2) Brett M. Kavanaugh will soon be the 102nd Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the USA. He has earned this highest honor throughout his life, inspired by his trailblazing mother, Judge Martha Kavanaugh.
His title for these few hours is Associate Justice Designate.
(3) This statement from the Supreme Court explains the two ceremonies:
(2) This WaPo reporter is incorrect about the vote being "scheduled for" Saturday. The earliest time a vote COULD be held is Saturday pm. There's no reason not to hold it on Sun/Mon IF we need Daines. I think we won't. Read my 5 tweets about him here:
(1) A directory of my Kavanaugh threads since July 9, 2018.
I never planned more than a couple of threads about him this year but, I shoulda known the Dems would try to destroy whoever was the nominee this time.
(2) Like Democrats, I'd already decided how I felt about him before his nomination was announced. I live-tweeted the announcement, which was a great event in itself.
(3) I followed Kavanaugh's progress over the summer and on September 22nd, I finally wrote a thread about the preparations for the all-important hearing on September 27th. It covers the hearing before the next thread started the day after.
(2) Mitch laughing to himself about how absurd it is that he has to push his way through the crowd of reporters on 9/25/18.
(3) Sen Grassley is 85 years old. (Democrats have senators around that age, too.)
Today he had to hold onto a Capitol Police officer to reduce the risk of a reporter knocking him over. This has to stop. Senators must return to being able to walk around freely at work.
(2) First Lady Melania Trump is a natural in this important role.
She's one of those women whose face lights up whenever she is around children. God Bless our great First Lady.
👠🇺🇸
(3) FLOTUS left Joint Base Andrews in her trademark high heels and arrived in Ghana wearing practical flats. She still looks sensational, whatever she happens to wear!
(2) Cloture in the Senate is a procedural step that you can learn more about at the link below. The senate.gov website is the best resource for learning about Senate procedure and a lot more. Same for house.gov.
(3) Watching live Senate floor proceedings is boring as hell, as they pass bills for naming Post Offices, & so on. But every now & then, they confirm a SCOTUS judge. And this time, they will affirm our great #BillOfRights#DueProcess & the hard-won #RuleOfLaw. Seriously. 🇺🇸🦅