Why do the British hate Americans so much?

From 2016, until the 2019 election and later the Coronavirus pandemic, the British media was dominated — obsessed— by two things: Brexit and Donald Trump. Every British news site, TV channel, and tabloid paper published about Trump daily. His most banal remarks were headline-worthy. Brexit’s prevalence as a constant in the news isn’t surprising (not that it wasn’t tiring) but the fact British media often gave more coverage to the American president than to our own leaders, and commented more on American politics than our own, is harder to explain. You could suppose that compared to blander, more photoshopped personalities like Theresa May and David Cameron the easily lampoonable Trump simply made for better copy. But even Boris Johnson’s persona as buffoon-oddity didn’t hold much attention to the public beyond the election campaign (which is of course all that was required of it). The media’s interest in Trump is easier seen as part of a trend: there are few things Brits are more opinionated on than American culture, politics, history. You could almost say us British have an obsession with America — a neurotic one.

You could argue British media’s focus on America isn’t strange. America remains (for now) the world’s biggest superpower, hence the US president is often titled ‘the most powerful man in the world’; it only makes sense the world is watching closely. The news…