Relations between Spain and the USA appear to be having a tough moment as the ineffable Yankee president lowers the tone to bar-room talk.
Trump calls Spain a ‘loser’ and warns the United States will not be a ‘team player’.
“Spain? I think they've been very bad” US President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House on March 11.
“I’m not learning your damn language, I don’t have time”, Trump telling the Latin American presidents (an anecdote that made its way to Spain).
Then there was Spanish-speaking Bad Bunny performing at the Super Bowl (“an affront to the United States”).
All in all, one might be forgiven for considering the MAGAts to be dumb (in the American meaning of the word) and most Europeans tend to take that line.
The USA is not easily comparable to Europe – Spain for example, a large European country, is 35% smaller than Texas. Over there, you can go a long way in your automobile and still be in the same country, eating the same food and watching the same television.
But not all Americans are Republicans, and even less these days are Trump supporters. Perhaps Trump just needs a decent paella and to sit on the beach in Marbella for a few days. Hey, the girls there often go topless.
There are of course, many Americans who love Spain – a country that has long been a favoured destination for American intellectuals. I can think offhand of Orson Welles, James Mitchener, Ernest Hemingway, Washington Irving, Barack Obama, Ava Gardner, Richard Gere, Michael Douglas, Gino Hollander and my old friend and neighbour the late Ric Polansky – who would never knowingly miss a bullfight. 
Spain/US relations have been a case of love and hate. Spain after all was long there before the USA was even a glimmer in the eye of George Washington (seen here crossing the Potomac).
Puerto Rico, Florida, California, Texas and so on were all once held by Madrid.
The Americans backed Cuba when it revolted against its overlords in 1898 leading to the Spanish–American War which soon cost Spain most of its remaining empire: Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and The Philippines.
Washington supported the Nationalists during the Francoist uprising, with the later comment from Madrid: ‘without American petroleum and American trucks, and American credit, we could never have won the Civil War’.
But that was then, now we are all happily united under the Nato flag.
Donald Trump evidently has a grim view of Spain, as do (and must) his toadies. Lindsey Graham thinks that they should withdraw their two military bases in Seville and Cádiz and another, the foreign policy analyst Michael Rubin, suggests American support for Morocco to annex Melilla and Ceuta (with their combined population of 170,000).
While we are on the subject, there was even a plan, back in the 1890s, to invade and occupy the Canary Islands. Maybe somebody in the Pentagon could dust that one off.
Political pressure comes these days from the US embassy, warning its citizens to avoid Spain’s upcoming protests over ‘recent events in the Middle East’. On a happier note, the Madrid leader (and arch-conservative) Isabel Díaz Ayuso says she intends to celebrate the coming 250th anniversary of American independence on the 4th of July.
It certainly sounds fun.
Donald Trump evidently supports Spain’s far-right parties and receives homage from them in return. This may not be doing them a favour, as the Iran mission is far from popular here.
President Sánchez says: ‘¡No a la Guerra!’. Over in Hollywood, Javier Bardem echoed the sentiment at the Oscars: ‘No to War and Free Palestine’, earning ‘a huge round of applause’.
In Spain, they know a dictator when they see one. Giving in to one, whichever one, is out of the question.