An excellent post, Karen. From your post:

."None of this is helped by the fact that Trump hates the EU, and is in any case fighting trade wars, not the best type to be looking for a trade 'deal' with I would have thought."

Yet our brave brexiteers live in eternal hope of making a great trade deal with this unstable man, a deal that so much hinges on. You'd have thought that this elementary point would be giving them the severe jitters. None so blind as the feeble of mind...