President arrives at Windsor for a state visit; calls being the only American president to receive two of them 'maybe the last time, I hope it is, actually.'

Pay attention. The President of the United States flew across the Atlantic in his big plane, landed in southeast England, helicoptered onto the Walled Garden of Windsor Castle, got hugged by Prince William and Princess Catherine, walked over to the King and Queen, took a carriage ride around the grounds, ate dinner in St. George’s Hall with crystal and silver and people in tuxedos with sashes, and then stood up to give the toast in front of the King.

Pageantry. Pageantry of a thousand years. The British, give them this, can throw a dinner.

Buddy. The toast. The toast itself. The President, glass in hand, stands up and starts off saying, what a singular privilege it is to be the first American president to receive two state visits to the U.K. Solid setup. True. No previous American president has been hosted on a state visit twice. He’s the first. Fair flex.

Then. Then he says, maybe it will be the last time, I hope it is, actually.

The last time. He said the last time. On camera. In the King’s hall. While toasting the King. I hope it is.

I have run a casino floor. I have made toasts at retirement dinners. I have made toasts at weddings. I have never, in thirty years, toasted my own retirement at the retirement dinner of somebody else. That is a new move. That is a move I had not seen.

He went on. He called it one of the highest honors of my life. He called the special relationship eternal and unbreakable. He told a story about Churchill that mostly tracked. He toasted the King and called the Queen very, very special. The line about the last time sat in the middle of the speech like an old man at a banquet table who is not sure why he is there.

The British press, which is not in the bag the way the American press is, picked up the last time line and ran with it on every tabloid front page Wednesday morning. MAYBE THE LAST TIME, in the kind of typeface that requires a full broadsheet.

I’m arguing with the television. The television is showing the toast. The toast is in slow motion. The slow motion is unkind.