We’ll skip the obvious joke, since this is General Questions and I’m looking for a factual answer.
According to The Times the ‘President insists on a carriage journey down The Mall to Buckingham Palace.’
That’s pretty much all I can read, since I’m not registered. Other articles I’ve found all point to the one in The Times.
So, is Trump ‘demanding’ a carriage ride? Or is he just saying he really, really wants one, and The Times are just spinning his desire negatively? IOW, is there any independent confirmation of the paper’s claim?
Snopes is saying they don’t have a response from the White House yet. They do point out that:
The best I can see is an unsubtantiated leak that the WH wants it and it being phrased as a demand rather than a request. It’s not something unique or special if it’s a request though. A lot of the coverage seems to imply Trump wants something abnormal which it plainly isn’t.
That’s why I’m asking. There’s no doubt that the carriage ride is routine for visiting Heads-of-State. But The Times said the White House ‘made it clear’ that a carriage ride is expected. It’s one thing to request something, and another thing to ‘make it clear’ you expect to receive it. As a liberal, I have my opinions of Trump. As a member of The Straight Dope, I like having factual information, even if it disagrees with my opinion. When a claim is made, I like to see evidence supporting it. As far as I can see, The Times is the only outlet making the claim, and all of the other outlets are quoting The Times.
Since the source in the article is unnamed “officials”, it’s unlikely we’re going to know one or the other. As noted here (and in the Pit Thread), this isn’t the best written article, so I’d look for independent confirmation myself. Remember this claim about Trump? This new one seems similar.
On the other hand, the report that Trump had made requests pursuant to having tanks and missiles roll down Pennsylvania Avenue for the Inauguration parade, widely ridiculed by conservative sources when it surfaced in January, ended up being confirmed:
The ‘golden carriage’ story may turn out to be true, or not–past experience shows that White House leaks can later turn out to have been accurate reports.
Your report does not say that Trump,himself, made the inquiry, and in the end no request for military vehicles was actually made. Not sure what that is supposed to prove.
If ‘the White House’ requests pictures of military hardware that could appear in the Inauguration Day parade, does it matter whether or not we have video or audio of Donald Trump himself making the request?
People draw conclusions about a President based on what his staff says and does. (This occurs whether or not you feel that such inferences are legitimate.)
The OP asks if Trump did something. If that something was done my a member of his staff, then yes it does matter for the purpose of answering that specific question.