Sometimes in life you don’t always want to be at the front of the queue. For anyone with the surname Aardvark – and there are around a thousand such people on Facebook, one of whom, incidentally, has had it paired it with the first name Quentin – school life will have been automatically conferred with many privileges. First in line at dinner time, a peg right by the door, the pick of the board games come wet play (a phrase I must apologise for using in a column which will shortly be about Donald Trump). But for yin there must be yang, and when nurse arrives with the needle, well you’d rather be Quentin Yang than Quentin Aardvark.

And so Theresa May stands, Aardvark-like, at the front of the queue, ready to take a deep breath and plunge her snout in to the towering termite mound of Trump’s America.

She stands at the front of the line for a rollercoaster no one has ridden, completely untested, its safety certificate not even in the post. Later this week, she will strap herself in to her RAF Voyager and take off for a Washington DC that used to be a Waltzer but now looks more like Oblivion.

In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President-elect Donald Trump acknowledges guests as he arrives on the platform at the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Melania Trump looks on during the 58th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington AP In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President Donald Trump shakes hands with Justice John Roberts after taking the oath at inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President Donald Trump raises his fists after his inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol Getty In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. President-elect Donald Trump greets outgoing President Barack Obama before Trump is inaugurated during ceremonies on the Capitol in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump resident-elect Donald Trump arrives on the platform of the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Attendees partake in the inauguration ceremonies to swear in Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States at the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump US President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address during ceremonies at the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. President Donald Trump waves with wife Melania during the Inaugural Parade in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters registered their rage against the new president Friday in a chaotic confrontation with police who used pepper spray and stun grenades in a melee just blocks from Donald Trump's inaugural parade route. Scores were arrested for trashing property and attacking officers AP In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators protest against US President Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A woman holds a sign before the start of the Presidential Inauguration of Donald Trump at Freedom Plaza in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Anti-Trump protesters prepare banners for a protest against the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, in Berlin REUTERS In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators shout slogans against US President-elect Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators march, block foot traffic and clash with U.S. Capitol Police at the entry checkpoints for the Inauguration of Donald Trump Alamy Live News In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators display a banner as people arrive for US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A man displays a placard as people lineup to get into the National Mall for the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump raise their hands as they are surrounded by police on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A demonstrator wearing a mask depicting Donald Trump protests outside the US Embassy in London Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators hold placards as they protest outside the US Embassy in London Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Former US President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush arrive for the Presidential Inauguration at the US Capitol Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden share an umbrella as President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address at the inauguration in Washington DC Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton arrive on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. Vice President Mike Pence takes the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Advisors to President-elect Donald Trump, Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon depart from services at St. John's Church during the Presidential Inauguration in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump take cover as they are hit by pepper spray by police on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump An activist demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump is helped after being hit by pepper spray on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A police officer tries to tackle a protester demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump Reuters/Adrees Latif In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Police arrest and detain a protester in the street in Washington DC Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A police officer falls to the ground as another shoots pepper spray at protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters

At least, to an extent, the devastation from two transatlantic political earthquakes has put the Special Relationship back in sync. One of the more curious realities of recent times was, in 2008, watching the left-leaning liberals of America pinning the blame for the financial crisis on the conservatives, while over here the Conservatives did the same to Labour. History could have been very different if Obama and Blair had found each other. Now, as Trump puts America First, Theresa May’s Conservatives bear every outward similarity to Britain First, so at least things will not be complicated.

So what to expect? Downing Street advisers are quietly putting out talk of a trade deal that will make it easier for Americans to work in the UK and Brits to work overseas, which you’d think might be a curious thing to follow in the wake of two seismic transatlantic political events that both had immigration at their heart.

Theresa May confirms upcoming meeting with President Trump

It might make life that little bit harder for those who continue to claim the referendum result was nothing to do with race, and for that reason we look forward to Nigel Farage’s grave warnings about the Americans moving in next door, and the Boston accents on the trains out of Charing Cross. At this early stage in the delicate proceedings, it might be best not to mention the 72m black and Hispanic people with US passports.

We know that Trump is confident a deal can be done “quickly and properly.” He said so himself to Michael Gove. I mean, we also know that there were “a million and a half” people at his inauguration and that it’s the “dishonest media” that has cooked up his row with the US intelligence services (and has nothing to do with his own tweet that comparing them to Nazis), so there is no harm in taking the man at his word.

A wisdom appears to be emerging that a potential US trade deal gives the UK leverage in its negotiations with Brussels – that now more than ever we are in a stronger position to just walk away. That in a week in which both the President of the United States and the Chinese Premier made loud public proclamations about a return to protectionism, the UK has suddenly done the right thing by marching out of the world’s largest free trade zone, right on its doorstep. That a UK running in to the arms of an international joke is something our European neighbours will fear and not merely laugh at.

We shall have to wait and see what we get from America, but it will be hard to ignore that the chap appointed by Donald Trump to do his trade deal negotiations is “distressed debt” billionaire and real life Richard Gere from Pretty Woman by the name of Wilbur Ross, a man who has made his fortune forcing terrible terms on close-to-bankrupt companies who have no choice but to take them. If only the Anglosphere had a word for déjà vu.