Trump's lonely G-20 marks a fitting end

[DonViejo]

By Ishaan Tharoor
November 23, 2020 at 12:00 AM EST

President Trump’s turn on the world stage ends not with a bang or a whimper, but the closing of a browser window. Leaders of the Group of 20 major economies convened in a virtual summit this weekend that prioritized the global challenge of countering the coronavirus pandemic. Trump was conspicuous in his indifference. At a Saturday session on international vaccine production and distribution, Trump delivered a perfunctory set of remarks where he made no commitment to expand the availability of U.S. vaccines. Then he left to play a round of golf while his counterparts were still speaking.

According to audio obtained by the Guardian, Trump also told the leaders assembled virtually that he looked forward to working with them “for a long time,” even though most of them had already congratulated President-elect Joe Biden on his election victory. His brief address on the pandemic touted the might of the U.S. military and economy and his administration’s role in helping to create a vaccine. “His was the anomalous speech,” a diplomatic source said to the Guardian. “Everyone else talked about global matters of life and death.”

The next day in a meeting on climate change and the environment, Trump once again waved his “America First” standard, decrying global efforts to reckon with climate change. “The Paris accord was not designed to save the environment,” he said. “It was designed to kill the American economy.”

The mounting impatience of his counterparts is not difficult to imagine. Trump’s foray into foreign policy began in pomp and splendor as a guest of Saudi King Salman in Riyadh in May 2017. Nearly four years later, it was fizzling out in a virtual session hosted by the same monarch, whose own officials made statements that seemed to criticize Trump’s approach to the pandemic, including his withdrawal from the U.N.’s World Health Organization.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2020/11/23/trump-g20-climate-coronavirus-foreign-policy/

[RKP5637]

1. And tRump fades like a deflating hot air balloon! n/t

[NoMoreRepugs]

2. It's an oversimplification but our 70Million Deplorables represent less than ONE percent of the

worlds population and somehow they are right about the RUMP and all the rest of us are wrong?? That may be the new definition of INSANITY IMO.