larry johnson wants to make sure you know that you can't polish a turd; 

I thought the phrase “you can’t polish a turd” originated with the British or US Navy. For you non-native English speakers, it means that you cannot improve something which is inherently or unalterably unpleasant or of poor quality. After doing additional research, one of the earliest recorded uses is attributed to Geoffrey Stokes in his 1977 book Star-Making Machinery: Inside the Business of Rock and Roll, where it is used in the context of music production. The phrase gained popularity and became widely recognized in various contexts, often used humorously to describe futile efforts to improve something fundamentally flawed. That summarizes Keir Starmer’s meeting on Thursday with Donald Trump.

Here is how the British media portrayed the results of the meeting.

The Times of London:

Sir Keir Starmer won concessions from President Trump on trade and British plans to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius but failed to extract key ­commitments from the president on the future of Ukraine.

After more than two hours of talks in the White House, the prime minister said that they were working on a “new economic deal”, which the president said could happen “very quickly”..........more.........