There is a lot to criticize about Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain: Brexit is a horrible idea. Her cabinet is a snake pit of personal and political scandal. Her foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, seems unhinged.

But at least she knows how the leader of a democracy should respond to an egomaniacal, autocratic leader who shows no concern for international law, human rights, civil liberties or freedom of thought and speech.

No, I’m not talking about President Trump.

“It is Russia’s actions which threaten the international order on which we all depend,” May said on Monday night at the Lord Mayor’s banquet in London, where she delivered the kind of tough-minded message to the Kremlin that American presidents used to send:

I want to be clear about the scale and nature of these actions. Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea was the first time since the Second World War that one sovereign nation has forcibly taken territory from another in Europe. Since then, Russia has fomented violence in the Donbas, repeatedly violated the air space of several European countries, and mounted a sustained campaign of cyberespionage and disruption. This has included meddling in elections and hacking the Danish Ministry of Defense and the Bundestag, among many others. It is seeking to weaponize information, deploying its state-run media organizations to plant fake stories and Photoshopped images in an attempt to sow discord in the West and undermine our institutions.

May had a “very simple message” for the Kremlin. “We know what you were doing and you will not succeed,” she said, “because you underestimate the resilience of our democracies, the enduring attraction of free and open societies, and the commitment of Western nations to the alliances that bind us.”

Trump’s message to the Kremlin is simple, too: Do what you want.

He believes President Vladimir Putin is “sincere” in denying Russian attempts to meddle in the American elections, and is tired of asking about it — if he ever actually did. He is not going to raise human rights with Putin. He’s eager to work with Russia on Syria, where Putin is determined to shore up a bloodthirsty dictator.