I can't imagine a greater hell than being forced to interact with Donald Trump.
10
Sad. Climate change is by far the world’s most pressing problem; nothing else even comes close. And like cancer, the longer we delay dealing with it, the more expensive the treatment and poorer the prognosis.
The Amazon fires are a minor symptom, not the real problem, and $20M contribution almost a joke. The real problem is Trump-wannabe Bolsonaro, who is fully green-lighting deformation, which will take down far more trees than fires.
A scientist
7
Anyone who works in the Government, or pays taxes as a citizen should be completely embarrassed and ashamed of Donald Trump insane behavior and comments at the G-7, if anyone in the Republican Party doesn't feel that there is something seriously wrong with Donald Trump's metal or cognitive mind, then they should immediately resign and leave government.
Donald Trump is certifiably not right in the heard.
4
If the indecent kleptocrat chooses to extort money for his resort as the site of next year's G7, the other six can politely decline, and he and Putin can golf together.
7
Can the global media STOP taking seriously every weak, inane and vainglorious lie out of this man's *mouth ?
Yes. Via skulduggery, and gaming the Electoral College concept, this Global Embarrassment of a Dictator's Lapdog *IS POTUS !
But what boundary does he have to cross, how many laws must he publicly violate, until the Media *gets the FACT that Trump is not *normal ? That Trump himself does not understand the office he holds, except to use it to denigrate and to undermine everything that a Democracy stands for ?
Trump with Putin at Helsinki is the *REAL Trump. Media, please cease and desist *enabling this phony with deep analyses of every demented lie mumbled forth by this decrepit and deluded narcissist.
4
A well-deserved series of points about Trump and climate challenges, tariffs, and others. Except one: Trump's continued insistence to readmit Russia to the G7 taking it back to G8. This was repudiated (again) by the G7, saying that they will not even let Putin have a conditional seat until he gets out of Crimea. Many of us hope that President Trump stops being Putin's lap dog, and show some American backbone.
4
Damage control mode is a necessity as long as we have this appalling president.
EVERYONE: Continue the work-arounds, continue the grassroots support for everything that makes the world stronger and safer.
4
Why in heaven’s name are world leaders pussyfooting around the nasty, deranged U.S. president? What are they avoiding? I think the United States citizenry and the world community would be delighted if the G-6 members publicly showed him what they think of him. He brings no leadership to this group and is only an embarrassment to his country.
8
First Clint Eastwood and now Trump. Maybe this empty chair thing is some sort of Republican symbol?
1
What a little Napoleon. G-7, sorry I wasn’t represented. Counting on you to make America great again?
2
So our President picks and chooses which sessions he feels like attending (to do who knows what instead). And when he does show up everyone walks around on egg shells so as not to upset his Royal Highness.
What’s the point in even having the conference?
5
August 27, 2019
Trump should give thought to the Khalil Gibran
“Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.”
• A Handful of Sand on the Shore, as quoted in Alterquest: the Alternative Quest for Answers (2006) by Karen Fiala, p. 127
JJA – Earth citizen
3
Trump is an embarrassment to us wherever he goes and no matter how important the meeting.
9
Wow! The Editorial Board has progressed to suggesting that Trump “probably” lied. When they get to the point of capitalizing that word in nearly every headline, we might probably get somewhere. Or not.
4
Raising the ire of Mad Dog Trump is the greatest reality show on TV. It was fun to watch him flail his little fingers, call people dirty names, spewing lies, hates and epithets. All the theatrics is getting tiring to the world. The most despised and hated man in the world and yet he loves all the attention and press. Definition: narcissist
5
Sometimes the subtext is the story. And a warning for the rest of us. Again and again the NYT piece showed how the rest of the G7 leadership were respectful and even deferential to President Trump despite his behavior. Why? Innate diplomacy? I think caution. The most astute politicians from the most powerful economies in the world have sized up the current US election and believe it is all too likely that they will have to deal with Trump for four more years. We need to worry.
1
And on it goes: a now-global recognition by all in contact with Trump that he is unable to muster even an attempt at normalcy.
Call it his mental state, his emotional state, some catastrophic effect of a dearth of intelligence, curiosity, decency -- defining his unfitness to serve is irrelevant.
What we have here is an individual who must be escorted to the door and the street ASAP.
7
The Amazon is not “one of” the world’s greatest rainforests, it is THE greatest.
7
When describing the leaders of the world's most advanced economies who pledged to provide an aid package for Brazil and its neighbors, it was not a "Group of 7, minus Trump." It was a Group of 6 that attended the summit plus Trump who, in the absence of an actual "leader" of the United States, represented this country.
14
Perhaps he was taking his nap while the grownups worked.
We should encourage these naps. but alas, he cannot distinguish what happened in his dreams and thoughts from reality.
10
Why in heaven’s name are world leaders pussyfooting around the nasty, deranged U.S. president? What are they avoiding? I think the United States and the world community would be delighted if the G-6 members publicly showed him what they think of him. He brings no leadership to this group and is only an embarrassment to his country.
12
Dereliction of duty - why is he still there? Why does he continue to receive a paycheck?
7
Whit House staffers seem to share the thoughts of the G7 leaders. They try to keep Trump occupied elsewhere so that they can actually get some work done.
Hope Hicks used to provide the adult supervision that Trump so desperately requires. The good news is that there is an opening to be Trump's babysitter. You are all free to apply.
2
I refuse to allow myself to feel anger any longer at the behaviour of the president. It is simply a sad state of affairs and is becoming more and more apparent that he is increasingly incompetent to hold this honored position as our head of state. Never before have I felt so embarrassed and saddened by his unprincipled conduct. Whenever I think the "Trump machine" is going to implode...somehow it seems to defy gravity and it just goes on.
The day will come, however, when it will end and the United States will once again be right with the world. I hope I will be able to feel sorry for him then.
32
@June Susan Wichterman
I must object to the reference to trump as "increasingly incompetent" … 'apparently.'
His incompetence is such that it is no more 'subject' to 'escalation' than infinity is -- or than infinity is 'reducible' to precise 'calculation.'
7
@June Susan Wichterman
But will the world ever again be right with the USA?
That is the deeper tragedy that will outlive this pathetic person.
We have lost the world's trust. Our credibility is zero. That's a mighty tough hole to climb out of.
7
Gently remove him from all levers of power, particularly those nuclear launch codes.
Hurry up elections!
4
Actually, I thought it was pretty funny the way the G6 leaders handled Trump. Coddle, distract, ignore and let the adults get on with their business. It was hilarious when Iran's foreign minister showed up to the surprise of Trump and his aides. The adults just got on with their business. And like any good child management routine, they let him go out and play (with the press), then home, maybe watch some Looney Tunes, then nap.
12
The United Nations was born to fight fascism in the 1940's. When will it return to its founding inspiration and aggressively challenge Trump and the nation which saw fit to make him The Leader?
3
The G6 are being discreet but subtlety and good manners are lost on Trump, who accepts everything at face value. This lack of social intelligence will plague US international relations as long as he is President. But I doubt if he will notice.
4
We're going to need a smaller table.
7
Why do we all continue to be surprised by Donald Trump's antics? Why would the worlds "leaders" cower and "play nice" in his company? Should the G7 temper its task in order to keep the pot from boiling? It feels like we are all in big trouble.
3
Why not make him mad? I don’t understand. If Trump wants to fight the world, let him. Why don’t they stand up for what they believe is right?
11
Come on. Everyone knows Trump is ignorant and a liar. His word is meaningless. Give him some chocolate cake. Send him to bed.
The adults will continue without the interruptions and nonsense
from the toddler-in-chief.
10
I was imagining what the leaders at that summit must say to his/her own spouse or advisers (regarding Trump) as they prepared to meet. Picture it in your head:
"The man's a fool!"
"When will we be rid of that ignoramus!"
"How can I keep myself calm in the meetings, when the man is a disgraceful, incompetent, crass idiot!"
"My god, you can't reason with the man!"
"Why did the American people saddle us with a moron!"
3
So much time...so many lies, lies,lies...
Take your pick...call it "unorthodox mind" or maybe more like raving lunatic brain on full display.
I'll take the latter.
And if you add to all this the only empty chair at the climate change meeting, that is of paramount significance in the time, when Amazon literally goes in flames...
This is our "president" skipping the boring part.
Oy vey, America!
8
First, the Republicans became afraid of Trump. Now the whole world is, except for China and Iran. What is he, the
new Hitler. He certainly is using the same tactics.
7
It's a positive 1st step for World Leaders to ignore Donny Dotard's nonsense at gatherings intended to address substantial issues affecting our world's economy & climate.
America needs to send a affirmative signal,to the rest of the world, we've recognize the catastrophic mistake in electing this " Half Baked Nut Job " to occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue by voting him out of office. ( Don't let the door hit you on the way out. )
3
Trump controls his counterparts with his anger. It is evident in world leaders walking on eggs around Trump.
His ability to tantrum to avoid and to get what he wants is unsurpassed, except by 2 year olds!
What a pitiful show of US leadership in the world. Hitler also behaved that way as evidenced by films of his speeches during the Third Reich.
5
Before next year's G-7 meeting, which Trump plans to use for his personal profit (by holding it at one of his golf courses), the US should be kicked out of the group.
The G-6 makes more sense. Under Trump's Reign of Terror, America is an outlier which disrupts and disrespects others in the group....others, period.
While some may argue that I am ignoring the elephant in the room - America can't be kicked out because we are the most powerful economy - I respond, we are no elephant in a room, we are a snarling bull(y) in the china closet.
7
I could close my eyes and randomly pick a name from a phone book (remember those) and I would be almost certain the person picked would be more competent than Trump.
7
Forgive him... he is too stupid to understand.
3
I can’t prove it but I know this is true (with credit to Bill Maher for this opening line):
After a summit, the G6 world leaders gather at a bar and all have a good laugh about the stupidity displayed by the so-called POTUS of the USA.
Merkel does the voices while Macron does the poses: arms akimbo, deer in the headlights look, sitting at the edge of the chair as one would sit at a commode.
And all these before the first round of drinks.
11
There was only a G1. The world focused on the village idiot we had sent for the entertainment of the club.
Trump once again embarrassed the US and whined about not be allowed to take his pal to the event. As usual, Trump sees dollar signs and wants the next G7 to be at his golf course (a perfect excuse to upgrade the place at our expense) and will be the one with the surprise guests.
Watching Trump talk and conduct business, I can’t help thinking that his behavior is not much different than the behavior of any other abuser. In his case, the victim is our country whereas, in other relationships is often the spouse. He lies, he tries to seduce so he could get approached and then he becomes irrational, insulting and aggressive. Once the other party withdraws, he blames the other party, justifies his actions were out of love and in this case, out of love for America.Then, he starts all over trying to seduce the party he had previously insulted in an effort to bring him close for another round of abuse.
Sadly, many Americans focus on his skill and not the abuse and the effect on our victimized country. The only way many could wake up and realize they are being abused is for this president to do something catastrophic. For now, we like to watch him making a fool of himself without realizing he is representing us and we are laughing stock of the wold.
2
World leaders tiptoe around the pompous self-crowned kind of the US as he cuddles up to the Russian crook despot. What me worry?
5
If Trump's Doral Miami resort is chosen for the next G7 meeting, would that mean that he could invite his buddy Vlad to attend as his personal guest?
6
That empty chair is probably has more brains than its MIA inhabitant.
‘Nuff said.
11/3/20. VOTE.
9
It is so pathetic that all the adults in the room must pander to the idiot child. I don't get it. Someone needs to tell him "the emperor has no clothes" and be done with it. Surely, what ever happens will be over and done with in a nanosecond while the orange genius sends another tweet. Pitiful man.
Get ready to vote Dem folks. We can't tolerate this much longer.
7
Pathetic Trump was all worked up about next year's G7 to be at his Doral Resort which is losing money . Trump gave a sales pitch worthy of the carnival barker he is while he skipped the key meeting about climate change that endangers the world per his Pentagon. Attacking Obama while praising his sponsor Putin was obscene and I'm sure the world leaders there saw what an ignorant petty man the USA has for president. The GOP will pay a price for this affliction they imposed on the country and the world. Ignorant greedy racist politicians owned by fossil fuel industry and the NRA they soon will be gone thanks to demographics.
4
He is the worst sort of muggle.
3
Looking forward to a G2 ‘summit’. Trump and Putin putting on the ‘Ritz after Biarritz.
5
Like I Claudius dancing around Caligula
4
Typical Trump with his head in the sand about climate change that he knows nothing about. One thing for sure, if President Obama did not believe in climate change, Trump would be embracing climate change with a vengeance.....traits of a narcissist.
6
The world awaits January 2021 and the departure of this awful, inept President and the D-listers surrounding him.
6
At this point, I almost think that if Putin wanted Europe....
...Trump would just stand back and say...'can I help you'.
4
@EC Not almost.
Actually, I would like someone to get him mad, so mad that he has an embolism.
Do not fear him. He basks in the sense of power it gives him.
Ridicule is what he fears most. Ridicule him and then ignore his tantrum. He cannot stand to be ignored.
Lastly, have Nancy Pelosi go over to the WH to send him to his room for a time-out.
3
The picture says it all.
5
"Just don't get him mad"
-President Macron.
That is exactly the wrong approach. Make him mad as a hornet, it surely doesn't take much. Then he flies off the handle, says stupid things, then has to backtrack like he did with China. Do that enough times and be in the Looney bin before you know it.
He's already teetering on the brink of insanity. No, do not give him an inch, critize, disagree, better yet tell him he knows nothing about the history of Greenland, and his comments were not only infantile, they were absurd. And he's a nasty person.
That ought to be good for starters.
8
Hey our skunk of an American President didn't come to the garden party and everyone could go home happy. Heavens forbid our spoiled brat President should get a dose of real world reality to upset his day. It reminds you of the twilight zone episode where a spoiled child with supernatural powers holds a house full of adults as hostage quivering in the fear that a singe sentence could send him into a mind bending tirade.
Trump joins all the monsters of history that elicit such dread.
5
“The question I was asked most today by fellow World Leaders, who think the USA is doing so well and is stronger than ever before, happens to be, ‘Mr. President, why does the American media hate your Country so much? Why are they rooting for it to fail?’”
Those must have been the little voices in Herr Trump's empty head, spoken by a maniacal insecure little man, trying to destroy democracy as we know it and trying to pull the rest of the civilized world into the abyss as well.
Fact is that other world leaders probably wanted to ask him, as Queen Elizabeth pointedly hinted in her speech at the royal dinner she had to throw for the maniac in the Oval Office:
"Why, Mr. President are you tearing all the treaties between the US and their allies apart that came into existence after WWII, treaties that kept the world powers from starting yet another major war?"
As to the press, the other leaders probably wanted to ask another pertinent question:
"And why, Mr. President do you fall in love with every brutal dictator like Putin and MBS who murder those working for a free press and dare to criticize them"?
5
The POTUS is out of sync, out of his depth. probably out of his mind, and soon to be out of office. 6 of the G7 left him on the shore. An old, tired, cranky malevolent standing lonely on the shore trying to negotiate one step while holding on to his wife's
hand as she gazes lovingly at the far handsomer and younger Trudeau. It was a fabulous summit for optics!
4
He’s like a rabid Dog. Extremely unpredictable and dangerous.
2020.
4
Europe knows Donald is lame, dead duck. They're wise not to let his petulant stay-away delay the proceeding.
5
As the Amazon burns Nero plays his fiddle. Yet he takes precious time to tweet inanities and insanities. He uses the presidency position
to advertise his Doral Resort to the world. Shameless, corrupt and willfully ignorant about climate change.
He’s dragging the US into insignificance, lying as he does it. Get him impeached and throw him out!
5
Where are the gots of the Democrats! Impeachment is over due! history will not look kindly on them.
3
The only thing getting me through this presidency at the moment is the fun of guessing which country will be the last one standing left unscathed by Trump by the end of his term when he is forced to flee and seek aslyum.
3
The New York Times lacks credibility, even when it publishes a reasonable editorial like this one.
It chose to publish as fact, during the last presidential contest, a well know piece of propaganda titles 'Clinton Cash'. The falsehoods in that piece combined with the Times obsession with Hillary's emails to render the Times little more than a weak Trump mouthpiece - as the Times feigned the pose of 'both sides' to lend some sort of balance to its pro-Trump 'Clinton Cash'.
The Times now wrings its hands, as it does in this editorial & Mr. Baker's related piece on Trump's temper, about Trump's immaturity on the international stage. The Times looks often like the arsonist at a fire who cries about the damage the fire has caused. The cries are credible & widely shared, but the arsonist is a fraud.
The rest of the civilized world will do their best to put up with the Doofus and look the other way at his silly clown games - for one term. But if the Doofus is still there in 2001, they will cut him out and get on with their adult work, without him and the rabble of ignorant loudmouth peasants he represents. There is important work to do, and they will get on with it without the know-nothings.
4
Trump has proven himself incapable of governing the nation any better than he governed the biggest casino in Atlantic City - into bankruptcy - leaving employees and the companies supplying it unpaid, despite at least one illegal loan.
He ran as a deficit hawk - but his irrational policies, shifting from minute to minute have ballooned the current new debt and slashed the value of our bonds, guaranteeing us a deficit that will soar ever higher for decades.
He blamed President Obama for a Congressional week-long shutdown of the government that cost millions, then gleefully shut down the government for a month, ruining the lives of people who dedicated themselves to civil service, requiring some work without pay.
In the past few weeks ... well, read today’s news analysis of the highlights of the G7 Trade Conference debacles.
Our great leader.
The ONLY person to ever be laughed out of the UN General Assembly by diplomats trained to never move a muscle in their faces.
His outright lies and inventions - about respectable Anerican Nazis and Klansmen are; walls being built where no construction seen; a “nasty” Danish prime minister who wouldn’t sell Greenland to the US; repeating lies Jewish Israelis consider him “the Second Coming”, a statement simultaneously anti-Semitic, anti-Islamic and disruptive to any hopes for regional peace.
Great sit-com material if he weren’t threatening our very survival as a nation, or a species.
4
I won't be holding my breath waiting for one or more of those world leaders to confess to asking the current occupant of the White House about why the American media hates their country so much. Those comments exist only in the occupant's mind.
7
I say make him mad, live with the pain for the next 17 months and then move on with someone sane in the WH.
3
Fitting. The empty chair for the empty suit.
8
Dear Mr. Trump,
Your behavior at the G7 was embarrassing, juvenile, and ridiculous. Please stop appearing in public. America and the world just can’t take it anymore.
Sincerely,
Merry Gangemi
6
Quite simply Trump was AWOL. Isn’t desertion treasonous?
2
OMG! Please let us make it through the next 14 months. Americans vote ANY Democrat into office! The world is ignoring us enough.
2
What a sad pathetic charade. Call it what it truly was. The G-6 and Agent Orange. Could it possibly become more obvious that Trump is the skunk at the picnic; who did not want to be there in the first place. News Bulletin...if they were honest the other 6 did not want him there either. Why go on with this farce when it was decided that there would never be a final agreement long before it ever started. A photo op where nothing important is ever accomplished. America has become so isolated only Putin and Trump`s buddy in North Korea even want to talk to him. Beyond Sad. America Alone.
3
Trump is like those ancient Egyptian pharaohs who wants everyone to be buried in their tomb along with them when they die. He knows he doesn’t have that many years left and doesn’t care what happens.
1
Ah.... Crazy Trump is MIA at Climate discussions... why is nobody surprised.
4
Empty suit, empty chair!
3
I am astounded and sadden that most ALL of the words used to describe the current president of the United States are:
Poor negotiator
Unfit
Liar
Racist
Incompetent
In experienced
Lack of curiosity
Greedy
Science denier
Etc
I know there are more, but I stop here to say, he is not "Making America Great". So Sad.
2
Trump told hundreds of lies, big and small, during his 3 day visit to the G7 in France. Sadly, only the 4th Estate called Trump out on his more nonsensical fabrications.
Top Trump Lies:
1. Claimed China called hm to resume trade talks. China said they absolutely did not call him.
2. Said Melania Trump “has gotten to know Kim Jong Un”. She has never met Kim. Never.
3. Said he didn’t attend the G7 Climate Meeting because he was meeting with German Chancellor Merkel & Indian PM Modi. Alert: Merkel & Modi were in the Climate Meeting that Trump skipped.
4. Claimed Chinese are paying for his American tariffs. They aren’t. Americans are paying for Trump's idiocy.
5. Lied about why Russia was kicked out of the G7. Putin was unanimously tossed by the G8 after invading Ukraine and annexing Crimea in a war that Putin started.
6. Said that a lot of G7 delegates told him Putin should be back in the G8. All other delegates say this is a complete Trump fabrication.
Donald Trump is a chronic, pathological liar. He lies for no reason. He does it all the time. He just can’t help himself.
6
To German commenter "S": You are, unfortunately, probably going to have to wait a very long time for his impeachment and removal. There is still some chance that we can get him out, but, I think not much. The fact that we are in this pickle means that the Constitution has already failed. Maybe we will get lucky and get him out, but even if we do, having to depend on luck for a slim chance means that the Constitution has failed. Steve Bannon and his other "advisors" are students of Hitler's political techniques, which work under the right circumstances, which apparently includes America today. I feel as if I am living in the last days of Weimar. I think few Americans realize how close we are to a Trump dictatorship. It can happen because it is not just him and his supporters, but an entire Republican party infrastructure, including governors and state legislators, and billionaire funders, and a propaganda organization (Fox News). In reading a history of the Bauhaus recently, I learned how the Nazi party gained control in many of the German states before gaining control of the whole country. It was a familiar tale. Wish us luck. You are going to need luck, too, as the European Union crumbles around you, and the leading country of NATO completes the triad of the world's fascist superpowers.
2
Next year the G7 should reschedule for 2021 when Trump is out of office. He adds nothing useful to it. Just disruption, clumsiness, insensitivity, and tactlessness.
He has absolutely no skill in handling global issues and affairs with any value-added or without arousing hostility.
What the heck is he doing tweeting while on a mission like the G7? It's profoundly disrespectful to the others.
2
I really don’t get it,this four flusher,Draft dodging punk,gets over so many supposedly tough guys in the Republican Party.The Conscience of the Republican Party is Joe Walsh.Where are we going with this would be thug at the helm? God Save us.
the whole world is on hold till this man is gone... hurry up americans... usher him out as soon as possible...
2
The media don't hate the country, they, like many Americans, hate the "make believe" president who lies and threatens at every turn because he has a mental condition. He is a total embarrassment to this nation.
4
This is the guy that smiles broadly and does a « thumbs up » for the photographers, while his wife holds a two month old child who’s parents were murdered 7 days earlier. He is a befuddled old man, who was a fool at a younger age. He flip-flops all over on issues, and tries to make it look like he knows what he is doing. He doesn’t. He is lost, and he is stupid. As the photo at the hospital showed.
5
Trump: “The question I was asked most today by fellow World Leaders, who think the USA is doing so well and is stronger than ever before, happens to be, ‘Mr. President, why does the American media hate your Country so much? Why are they rooting for it to fail?’”
NYT: Unless one of the World Leaders confesses to saying this, it is probably another lie.
Me: Probably?!? Duh.
2
" . . . why does the . . . media hate your country . . . ?" Well, who do you think could be the leader of that pack? No names, please!
How can our Fake President be already planning for next year’s G7 Summit in the U.S. when by that time he will have already been impeached and removed from office?
Thank you, NYT, for calling most of Trump’s statements what they are...lies.
3
G7 leaders are afraid to confront trump because it might make him angry? This is no way to deal with a bully. Let him get angry. He'll just flail like an idiot and make a fool of himself. Besides they should appreciate who they are dealing with ... an un-indicted criminal with his ragtag motley crew of so-called expert and experienced advisors in tow ... dithering Pompeo, bombastic Bolton, amateur Kudlow, silver-tongued Mulvaney and corrupt Mnuchin ... a shameful pack of incompetents on full display before the G7 and the world. Totally appalling and pathetic!
3
Let's keep in mind that Nero aka Trump is sitting next to the red button.
This is what you get when you put a pathological narcissist who also has frequent "visions" -- like Melania meeting Kim or windmills causing cancer--in the White House.
Hopefully American farmers have learned the hard way about Trump's lies that trade wars are easy to win.
2
Absent w/o cause, AWOL, at a summit where one of the most important issues facing this planet--not the moon, not mars, not the Milky Way--was dismissed as not important for King Trump to attend. Cavalier, rude, ignorant and spiteful, this fellow who somehow found his way to the White House where aided and abetted by the GOP party which he has hornswaggled, roped and just plain out-shamed to go along with his egregious behavior. Et tu, Brute? Et tu, GOP?
1
Our foreign policy can be summed up in six words: stomp, stomp, stomp, pout, pout, pout.
1
The NYT has to choose its words carefully. It can't sound overly passionate or emotional. It can't take too much of a personal tone, even in an editorial. But "irascible"? "Unpredictable"? Such moderate, generous words to use describing Trump. Would "quarrelsome" and "tantrum-prone" really have been too much?
1
That picture of a room full of world leaders, and America's empty chair, pretty much says it all.
1
What you've witnessed is the G7 convening, but with unspoken consensus, putting the real work this group is capable of doing on hold until the USA gets a real president in 2021.
2
Nero fiddles while Rome burns
Can't Congress cut the funding to Air Force One? Must we allow this man to embarrass our country everywhere he goes?
This time, he was a bumbling incoherent blithering fool, constitutionally unable to avoid lying about even little things.
China didn't call him. Melania never met Kim. The G-6 humored the petulant kid to avoid a scene, but they did not line up behind him on anything.
Congress must rein Donald in and then boot him out.
The best thing that the media could do is to recognize that this President is mentally deranged and start ignoring him as much as possible. Quit publishing his each and every tweet because they are only the ramblings of a madman and could completely swing 180 degrees in under a minute. Cover him when he takes some action that actually affects things. If you do that, we’ll hardly ever read about him. That would be glorious.
3
Think about what this says. That America now sits on the sidelines while leaders -- true leaders -- work on creating the future. Backed by Republican quislings and bootlickers who privately question his sanity yet cower and tremble before this increasingly unstable, unserious, and unhinged man-child, not only is it possible this won't be another American Century, but G7 revealed this president lacks even the discipline and foresight needed to create an American Weekend.
3
Irascible and unpredictable are fun ways to describe your minilabradoodle.
Try incompetent and unfit for the office of president.
This nightmare has to end. Enough.
The US will never again be trusted to lead as we have allowed this malignant, ignorant, vindictive narcissist to carry on unchecked.
It is time to put limits on executive power and the senate must do their job or be impeached.
3
Trump thought it was Jeff Bezos company that was burning.
2
You can just see Trump's wheels spinning as he looked around at the others. We all know what he was thinking.
'They are not giving Donald Trump the respect he deserves! Russia must be added to the group! The two greatest men on earth will outnumber the six nobodies!'
Deluded. And totally owned.
3
What a truly sad state of affairs. The inevitable decline of empire playing out right before our eyes.
I remember researching a paper in undergrad about this. It truly begins w complacency and rot from within. By the time the enemy reaches the proverbial gates it is because the stench is to far spread to ignore. I don't know under which president it started in earnest but Bush 2 most certainly poured the kerosene on it with his middle east adventures. Obama did his best to slow down and manage the decline but it is clear that a lot of Americans would rather see it burned to the ground than let a brown man captain the ship. So now they have taken a wrecking ball to it all. SAD!!!.
I guess some people do not realize that the days of western man running around the globe bending every thing to his will are gone. Countries who would have cowered at the presence of the US 50 years ago now just sit back and laugh. They must know the end of the American century is here. America is broke. Period. It is just a matter of time before she is too broke to maintain her global military foot print. Sadly it will be the last thing we do because by then healthcare and entitlements would have emptied the treasury. The only question is how much damage she will do globally before its all said and done
'Trump who likes being agreeable face to face can quickly turn mean at a distance', all mouth and trousers is what we used to call people who did this sort thing, as for Johnson, never has there been such an utter waste of skin and cartilage, the sooner that walking vacuum disappears into his own coiffure of a rats nest the better for everyone.
2
Trump is like a petulant child with superpowers. Scary.
2
if the president's absence at meetings, lies in an attempt to cover why, and the shameless attempt at salesmanship to promote his property for the next G7 meetings weren't enough.............
...........well, i guess i just don't what is enough. i know i've had enough. a majority of the country has had enough.
what about the rest of you? how do you continue to believe and support this swindling, charlatan, fraud? haven't you learned that he will take the pearls and cast you aside like the empty oyster shells?
2
How said that "Dont-get-you-know-who-mad" hides the contempt that other world leaders have for ours. His sole ally at the G7 was the same Boris Johnson who denigrated Trump's "stupefying ignorance" on his recent visit to Britain.
2
The New York Times Editorial Board and corresponding boards are other major publications need to expressly and repeatedly raise alarms about the 8,000,000 pound gorilla that is stomping across the planet:
--- Donald Trump is psychotic and he poses a clear and present danger to human life on earth.
--- Trump's Republican enablers will be culpable for the massive damage to life and property that this emotionally unstable and mentally incompetent president INEVITABLY will inflict.
This is no time for the newspaper of record "just to register a faint, sheeplike note."
2
Paradoxical and strange that you criticize the G7 leaders lack of resolve as they tiptoe around the irascible Trump buffoon.
The American press, the New York Times in particular, is complicit in a docile acceptance of reality television as "new normal.'
Where have you gone H. L. Mencken?
3
Was this meet only for Modi to meet Trump for support on Kashmir as Bilateral issue.What happened to one big part of Aksai Chin with China, is it no concern or India is incapable of handling, latter is truth
A thought....what could trump actually do to the other members of the G 7 if they decided to face him down? To call him out for is ignorance, lack of preparation for these meetings? Yes, a tweet storm surely would follow, name calling & labeling, then vindictive tariffs on their goods, possibility "boycotting" the next gathering, but it seems he could not do real harm without further damaging the US.
I would ask the same question of all reporters, both print and broadcast...why NOT call out his lies and misstatements? OK, so he is the "president", the office deserves respect, but, in my mind, trump DOES NOT deserve the respect usually given to the holder of that office. He has so sullied that office, embarrassed this nation on every international stage he has been on, and has shown himself to be a danger to both the US and the world at large.
3
@Paula
Thank you. I think you define the danger very well.
@Paula Here's a thought. It wasn't the members of the G7 or the press that put him in the oval office. It was your fellow citizens. So the question should be...what are YOU going to do about it?
Trump is irascible and unpredictable? Well, yes, but I think the word that best describes his behavior in recent weeks is "erratic."
Our president has the impulse control of a two year old child. It is embarrassing to be an American.
Donald Trump said he wanted Vladimir Putin at the next G7.
The other members states agreed to readmit Putin, but only if Trump didn't come.
Seriously. Why does Trump pander to Putin so much?
It is really getting suspicious the hod Putin has on Trump
2
"...Mr. Macron should know better than most that the Trump who likes being agreeable face to face can quickly turn mean at a distance."
Typical bullying behavior by a coward - "agreeable" in person, "mean at a distance".
2
trump declares on G7 day 2 that China called him asking for a meeting on trade.
China says "We did what?"
2
Trump has no interest in science or economic strategy. It’s all about his re-election campaign. Can you imagine how much money the fossil fuel industry will be contributing to Trump’s re-election? Trump will support any interference or money that helps destroy his political challengers.
“Russia, I hope you’re listening......”
2
You can't make this stuff up. Well, you can but no one would believe you if you wrote a fictional story and the American President has a Twitter tantrum after Denmark refused to sell Greenland. Well, NOW they'd believe you but before Trump ...
2
Don’t wake the baby! (International relations edition).
So Trump skips the session on climate change and the oceans, complaining that Mr. Macron and others are too focused on "niche issues". Good call, because why waste time on this, what could be more of a niche issue than the survivability of the entire planet and the extinction of the human race?
I suspect that rather than focus on the climate crisis meeting, Trump figured he'd spend his time working out the details of how he plans to host next year's G7 meeting at his Doral country club. I mean come on, a guy has to make a profit somewhere along the way even when you're president.
What a sorry clown fest we have to endure.
2
I pity the world leaders, but those who acquiesce to Donnie only reinforce the monster and this is part of his con. Get your opponent to publicly say nice things - or at least not contradict your outrageous lie that they have said such things - and you have sacrificed your integrity and honesty, so that it may be hard to believe what you say. Comey put it well and the surprised but smiling Mitt Romney dining with Donnie Boy illustrates the technique perfectly.
Much better to have Trump as a non-voting non-committing
distant observer at the G-7 or any other global forum than to involve him as a game spoiiler like an elephant in the room.
3
From my distant observation of all the dynamics that are being expressed by this opinion piece I find that there is only one person who has been the most successful in dealing with Trump. And he does so by doing that which is done by most in dealing with exactly the same type of persona out on the 'Net, the Troll.
The Troll aggravates. The Troll insults. The Troll exacerbates and lies for effect. But since the Troll is basically ineffectual the best way to deal with him/her is to totally ignore them. They feed off interplay, so let them suffer in silence.
Ostracize the Troll. This is what all the leaders, movers and shakers should do. Don't respond in kind. Don't try to placate. Don't try to tippy toe around him. Ignore him. Do as you would as if he doesn't exist.
My observation is Jeff Bezo's, the CEO of Amazon, is the only one who appears to understand this. All the haranguing the POTUS has done of him, his company and ethos; what has it amounted to? What has been the reaction by Bezos?
Crickets.
He lets his actions speak for him. And I doubt anyone would claim that Amazon is less than successful. This is what domestic and world leaders need to do. This is the key to dealing with Trump. California appears to be getting this, too.
Ignore the man and do the job of governing the people as best you can. Trump at best is ineffectual; and at worse simply noisy.
Because he is a troll he can, and should, be ignored.
John~
American Net'Zen
There's a horrible symmetry between watching the rain forests burn and seeing Donald Trump's actions at the G7. Both are destructive, capricious, and seemingly without reason.
One does not expect reason from a wildfire. I guess it doesn't do to imagine sense arising from a dumpster fire, either.
2
“Let’s have the meeting next year at my place in Florida. I’ll even give you a break on the links fees. Emoluments Clause? Great, I do deserve an emolument erected in my honor. Washington has one.”
Grifter in Chief, Donald J. Trump
3
Doral would be the perfect site for the next G7. While the adults tackle problems the stable genius can get in 18 holes.
1
Its very sad to see the president of the US spend more time plugging his golf club than working to address climate change. I often wonder what he thinks when he looks into the mirror. Does he realize he looked like a fool or does he believe he is a macho man. I also wonder how the GOP congress feels when they see the man they walk lockstep with on the world stage acting like a spoiled brat who cant get his way.
2
Time for the 25th.
1
So, Britain's bombastic bully became "sheep-like" in the face of the thug who supported his ascendancy to Prime Minister. I'm sure the people of the UK were proud of having voted him into office, and that those in Parliament will remember how easily he offered himself to Trump to be shorn of his wool.
I can hear them calling to him at the lectern. "Baa, baa, baa." I hope we can watch that on CNN.
That empty chair is indicative of Trump's mind,....vacant. Worse than that, he could not bring himself to the table even as the Amazon burned. The image of that empty chair is really of him giving the finger to the planet and all of us who inhabit it, and yet he still rules.
2
“The question I was asked most today by fellow World Leaders, who think the USA is doing so well and is stronger than ever before, happens to be, ‘Mr. President, why does the American media hate your Country so much? Why are they rooting for it to fail?’”
My guess is that NO ONE asked him this question; the American media do not hate our country. Their investigations and probes are an attempt to reveal what is actually happening and endeavor to hold those accountable for misdeeds. If the shoe fits, honey, wear it; if Trump acted with even a scintilla of integrity this would be a non-issue.
Yes, like the American presidency, the Brazilian Amazonian rainforest is too important to leave in the hands of a grifter who thinks only of making money. We've lost our credibility with the fool currently in the WH; we may lose our planet's climate stability if Bolsonaro behaves with comparable scorn of truth and razes the "lungs of Earth".
85
@mother of two
His lie demonstrates, again, that he can't count. "The question" turns out to be two, imaginary as they may be. Also, do note that "most" is a relative term. If he was asked a single question, that was the most, and if the question was "Why does Fox News hate the country so much that they lie for you, promote your administration, and support your horrible policies?" he's not lying entirely.
4
@mother of two-Apparently Trump admires Brazil's Bolsonaro as he's just announced intention to open up 16.7 million acres of Alaska's intact temperate rain forest to logging.
3
Alas, he is not missing. To the contrary, as a president who currently represents the US, he is by far the most important person at the summit. His presence weighs heavy on all the participants. USA, with or without Trump, is the most important nation, posing the biggest impact to their economies and their security.
As Trump would tweet, “Sad.”
2
Macron says he had a "long, rich, and positive discussion" with Trump.
If that were so, it would be bigger news than Trump's absence from the G-7 discussion on the environment. It might be the first time Trump has been well-informed enough, articulate enough, to engage an intelligent person in a weighty and profound issue.
Trump's "gifts," if you can call them that, lie in his ability to wing it before those who care less for his ability to look far out and in deep, to develop his thoughts with the assistance of experts pledged to truth telling more than loyalty to The Chosen One. He is consistently longer on bluster from his gut and shorter on prep, on doing any homework.
The next time he delivers a credible position paper to the American people will be the first time he's gone beyond scowling, sneering, talking over people, and reading as best he can remarks prepared by others from a teleprompter.
But I doubt that Macron or any of the other G-7 leaders had any such "long and rich" discussion with Trump. Mostly they walk on egg shells around him, which is sad, because if anyone ever needed a thorough intervention it is Trump.
1
None dare call it appeasement?
2
When reading this piece I found myself once again stopping at the sentence describing a world leader, in this case Boris Johnson, as cowed by this president, afraid of poking the bear, so to speak.
Thus, once again I find myself wondering what if parents around the globe gradually and collectively began to honor the wishes of their toddlers at the worst phase of their cognitive development?
Clearly, the majority of Republicans have decided to go down with the Hindenburg, which is unfortunate to say the least, but it is sheer madness for anyone sane left standing to sit on the sidelines while this human wrecking ball continues to pillage and plunder the country and world for the most pedestrian of reasons, ignorance and greed.
Granted the extent of damage being done by his pernicious influence enabled by wildly irresponsible, short sighted opportunists is overwhelming. Nonetheless, climate change happens to be one of several monumental issues that need to be addressed as swiftly as possible and fear of the wrath of a gigantic baby sociopath is ludicrous within that context. When a two year old throws a tantrum screaming, "I hate you!", do you go to your room and cry?
2
Kudos to our European allies who understand how to handle temper tantrums!! Thanks to the G7's support and pledge, we are closer to saving this fragile planet!!
It all feels a bit like a Harry Potter book, with Trump as Voldemort, "He who must not be named." Once again, life imitates art.
1
And what of trumps suggestion that next years summit be held at his struggling Doral? Emoluments? GOP where are you?
3
I am not sure, but I believe this may be the first time this editorial board has called the occupant in the White House a "liar". As in Trump's statement about the unpatriotic press and "it's just another lie" Also It almost seems like the Times has has finally changed their tone about this man. And, like the leaders at the meeting are just not taking him seriously anymore. How can he participate or even hold a meaningful conversation with these people? After all, this is 70 year old who doesn't know when manned flight started. An American President who doesn't know when & where the the National Anthem was written. I've got to hand to Macron, he keeps trying though.
3
This brings to mind the classic Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life." A young boy, Anthony, can control events and think people "into the cornfield" with his mind if they do not do exactly as he wishes. The show could be remade again. (it was remade in 2003). But instead of Peaksville, the setting is Biarritz and instead of terrified townspeople, the victims are six of the seven members of the G-7. You can guess who would fill the role of the domineering young boy.
Enough is enough. It is obvious Trump is incapable of intelligent discourse and has reached the point he mixes his wife and daughter up when it comes to Kim Jong-un. His wife, daughter and family are just as much part of the problem as Trump himself who repeatedly places our nation at risk due to his mental state and total lack of reality. Basking in the limelight of Presidential power overrides what most families do to prevent embarassment or dangerous decisions by a loved one to themselves or others. We are a nation of over 320 million people who essentially have no leader. His appointees have no experience or knowledge and their arrogance creates additional ignorance magnifying every problem that is their creation. What stands out of the G7? The empty chair at the climate conference, the lies told regarding that, the American press wanting our nation to fail, Obama was responsible for Putin invading Crimea and kicking him out of the G7, Trump stating he was an environmentalist, the pitch Trump gave for hosting the US G7 at his golf course, Ignoring Japan's concern regarding the North Korean short range missiles, insisting Putin, the person responsible for interfering in the 2016 election that propelled Trump to the White House, be welcomed back. Please if this doesn't confirm impeachment is long overdue ....what further tragedy must we be subjected to in addition to a senile,clueless President and those who attempt to translate lies into positive spin.
2
Amazing how the Editorial Board has a continuously negative opinion on the President who they swore would not be elected. When China settles will they reverse their view should the final resolution benefit US interest? I doubt it. Liberals are slow to acknowledge their ignorance.
1
@George Are "conservatives also slow to acknowledge their prejudice/ignorance when it comes to the president and what he says and does?
Trump couldn’t be there. He was sitting at the kid’s table.
2
"Don't fight him, don't spite him, just wait till tomorrow and maybe he'll ride on again"
The photo speaks volumes. What a great campaign image.
2
America and its president need to think in terms of millennial and adopt an assiduous care of and for our environment - as alternatively we are nothing more than a plague of locust.
Dear G6, in the future, please put Trump in the corner with his face to the wall wearing a rather large, pointy cap. And while he’s in timeout, the rest of the world can, at long last, get a little peace and quiet.
2
Hilarious. The first time I have laughed aloud about the Trump travesty in I don't know when.
Would have been more productive to hold the G7 meeting without Donald Trump. Rename it the G6 Meeting and get some real work done!
2
Vladimir Putin ordered Mr. Trump to disrupt the G-7,
Nato,
the EU,Brexit,
and the American election
It would seem that Mr, Vladimir is quite pleased with his asset, and Chosen-one-in chief.
2
This editorial is just an attempt to rehash the 2017 G6+1. Snarky efforts to isolate Trump (Fail.) Apparently you missed that the meeting was quite different this time around. Macron's national popularity has sunk to levels of Francois Hollande. Lame duck Merkel's economy is contracting. Trudeau is coping with a scandal at home. The E.U. is facing the loss of billions of Euros in Boris Johnson's Brexit countdown. Trump enters the room having faced down China, which everyone agrees must be done but no one else ever dared. The G7 2019 showed that one dude with some guts beats a full house of globalists, feminists and assorted collectivist followers. Leadership is still a male dominated sport in our world.
@JW I wonder where this will all end. Your last statement weakened anything you wrote: world diplomacy is hardly a sport, where winning is everything as several wars have demonstrated.
@MNimmigrant Unclear if you immigrated to or from MN but the core of world politics is and has always been a competition. It is possible and even laudable to have friends all over the world. But you must be able to distinguish between those who are cooperating with you and those who are competing with you. Trump seems to exhibit a preference for true friends of our country, as opposed to the false ones. Fair trade policy, for example, is consistent with an old expression: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Trump incites panic in many people. The key to overcoming that tendency is to ignore how he gets things done and focus instead on the substance of what he is is doing and has achieved. Dithering, rumination and consensus building always fails. History repeats that story on an endless loop.
Watching all this, I realize that I don't understand the stock market at all. Trump says he's going to crack down on China-- stocks crash. Then Trump says he's not going to go hard on China and stocks rise. Does this mean that America's best and brightest investors still believe in Trump's word? These people are our best and brightest?
2
I am so tired of reading about the United States being the most important country in the world, and of Trump being the leader of the free world. Neither is true. The United States needs to get over their “exceptionalism” and start to see the planet as a whole, with the need for cooperation and interdependence, if the planet is to survive.
And Trump has been so destructive of that point of view! He has wrung out the State Department, corrupted the Department of Justice, removed environmental protections, and has alienated the leaders of the other countries in our world.
Just watch Trump with other leaders: he slumps when he is with Putin, very noticeably. He smiles when Macron smiles at him, and Macron is now the true leader of the free world, he has taken up the void. Kim jun un loves Trump? Who knows? I assume Trump promised to build a golf resort in North Korea, and Kim thought he would enjoy that. I wonder whose name will go up in gold on that resort once it is built?
4
Connect the dots - perhaps you too can see Trump's nefarious but brilliant scheme.
First he gets the Danes to sell Greenland based on the going market rates for a large frozen, ice covered island with few people. But he surreptitiously inserts a right of first refusal for himself personally (it is always about himself personally). So before the US can purchase the large icebox, he does.
Now this is where you connect the dots to climate change. Trump continues to fight and thwart climate change and promote fossil fuels.
When the Greenland ice melts, it will expose a lot of land with undeveloped natural resources. Trump will become the largest private landowner IN THE WORLD. The land and resources will make him the richest man IN THE WORLD.
The payoff will get even bigger if Greenland has the same petroleum reserves as other Arctic areas - most notable the North Slope of Alaska and Northern Canada and Siberia.
He's crazy like a fox that one. Ya, I read the point made in another post that foxes are not that smart. But they still seem to find their way into the hen house. Greenland could be Trump's hen house.
The remaining 8 billion plus people in the world will pay a tremendous price for climate change - but why should he care if it makes him rich.
The G-7 or the world leaders in general have grown wise enough by now how to have Trump and ignore him also at the same time at rhese summits specially when Summit's success is at stake.
1
They might as well put the Empty Chair in storage since we can no longer claim to be a "liberal democracy." In 2016, our elections were tampered with and hacked and all three branches of the government (Moscow Mitch, the White House, and SCOTUS) are making sure it will happen again.
By this time next year, we might be looking at the G-6, sans USA.
Has any world leader ever held the G-7 summit on his or her own private property? What if the world leaders simply decline to attend and hold the summit someplace else? It's voluntary after all and DJT has already broken with so many precedents and insulted so many people, who in their right mind would want him as their host?
6
All expected.
I've always felt the nonsense contained in trump's outpourings hardly deserve the attention given them. To fill columns with his every doing, to view him on tv whenever he utters a word, is to cloak his attempt to end what is good in our country with a false sense of dialogue. It is no such thing.
We should summarize his daily performances in brief columns, refute them (an easy matter), and fill the news with the other, truly important happenings in the world.
4
It is totally a point where we must look at world leaders preparing for our president like you prepare for a dinner party where someone can't find a babysitter and must bring their young children. We want to give them something to be busy with but keep them out of the conversation that are for adults. We sent our leader which was not a part of the adult conversations that is important to all people in US and the world. Well, I should correct myself he was able to get some business for his property. I will not go into the lack of ethics in that invitation.
4
Does it bother anyone else that your tax dollars sent Trump & his entourage (plus security team) to a meeting and he did not attend all the events? What was he doing when others were discussing fires & climate change? Sleeping in? Tweeting?
11
The president’s destabilization of our country and his determination to strip us of our rights and also ruin our environment are beyond comprehension. That he is a fool is clear and his recent behavior abroad was incoherent and shameful. But what is happening is all too real. This is where we are. I know Republicans will never do what is right. But what about the Democrats? Where is the clear-eyed candidate who stands up and makes a powerful statement about the dangers unleashed by this president? I don’t want some I can defeat this man speech. I am talking about standing up and identifying the problem—i.e. we have a reckless self-serving president who is unfit for office— and then I want this candidate to say how he or she would heal the country---what concrete steps he or she would take to repair the departments of justice, epa, education, agriculture, homeland security, health and human services—all the departments. I want to hear clearly that someone understands our frightening descent into madness and I want this person to outline specifically how he or she intends to drain and then clean this swamp. Of course, I wan't to know about new proposals... but first I want to know how we get back to normal……
5
Under this administration, America has abandoned leadership for a bludgeon, science for whim, morality for money. The world is placing its hopes on the American people.
Plugging his golf resort for the next meeting while saying poor little president will make no money sounded like a cheap used car salesman. G6 and g1; another year and a half of this?
4
Incoherent, unpredictable, and quick to anger sound like the attributes of an undisciplined 10 year old.
The world is working around the country led by the infant terrible. I guess this is one way to achieve “America Only”.
3
And yet, for all of his incompetence, etc., he has managed to unravel many important laws and tradiditons. Think about the oil and gas industry, our public lands, our imtelligence agencies, any agency that uses science (how many scientisits have resigned in protest?), the Endangered Species Act, the Statue of Liberty, the mainstream press, farmers, the very office of the president.
3
He is a complete disgrace. The absolute worst person for the job at the absolute worst possible time. We are better than this. We must end this national nightmare in 2020.
3
Macron was not conciliatory he was pacifying a baby. Every leader outside the US, including Johnson who is trying to get Brexit through, know Trump is a pathetic leader and that Americans are on the downward slide of history.
5
The crisis of the destruction of the Amazon needs more than a pledge of $20 million, which agreeably is a pittance. There needs to be a global plan reached with Bolsonaro to end deforestation and begin reforestation, and it needs to be enforced. This is bigger than Brazil. And next the G7 need to address the model Cambridge Analytica devised to steal close elections. People are being manipulated on a massive scale via social media to elect these dangerous populist leaders that feel no responsibility to protect our planet.
2
Trump is bored with the G7. It's a nuisance, just like NATO, the IMF, the EU, etc. After all, he, Trump, is the one in charge. What Trump may yearn for, actually, is a G2, which would be just the U.S. and Russia. Does anyone not remember Trump's saying, in his White House meeting with Russian leaders right after he had fired James Comey, that he was glad that "that" (the fake claim of Russian interference in the 2016 election) was over because, after all, "we have a world run," unmistakably meaning himself and Putin?
1
The other world leaders* do not call out Trump's lies because they understand diplomacy, statesmanship, and have what Trump has always wanted... class. The G6 (7 minus Trump) respect the Office of the Presidency, but not the man- child in that office.
* with the exception ot Boris, who's just a coward
3
How strange can this be, the world leaders trying to appease 'temper tantrum' Trump, in spite of, or perhaps because of, his deep ignorance, hence, superb arrogance, on the subjects affecting mother Earth, not the least being our tendency to destroy the very planet we are part of, and depend on, for our survival. Given that all the information about the veracity of climate change, and the need to do something about it, is widely available, we must conclude that Trump's belligerance and denial must be malevolous, and in support of the very polluters needing his support...so to honor god Greed. Ugh!!!
1
IF the goals of the G7 are to discuss and exchange ideas on the global economy, security and energy - maybe it ought to become the G6 until either this POTUS has a chance to become informed on these issues as evidenced by improvement in the US in these areas or until we "let the people (Americans) decide in 2020".
1
Wait, is the time's editorial board saying that Trump's behaviour has had a noticeable change on world leaders behaviour and is causing them to be more mindful of US interests.
And that is a bad thing because....
1
So this is how the biosphere dies.
Through the actions of North and South American tyrants and the inability of the developed world to declare war upon their own.
1
Go knows what will be said, tweeted or twisted after # 45 comes back from Europe. This was definitely a G6, not a G7. Everything this man touches fails. He lies, belittles people and distorts everything. As a matter of fact, he knows nothing but destroys everything. Case in point: compare yesterday's statement " I want clean air, I want clean water" to his trade war or his dislike of President Obama, so deep that he erases his legacy day after day. Even if we make it back to normal after 2020, how deep the wounds will be? How scarred will be America? How much damage will this ignoramus have inflicted on us? Let's hope that he disappears from our radar fast, that he is viewed as an error of history, and that our children and grandchildren help us rebuild this nation for what it is supposed to be: a country of immigrants, of progress, of ideas and of cooperation with other countries.The world is watching our unravelling in dismay and is patiently waiting for the end of this nightmare. How long will the world remain patient?
1
Trump has been, from day one, totally out of his depth. It's so obvious. And it's completely disorienting to me as a citizen why his party and now apparently the G6, pretend everything is normal as we ordinary citizens are at home freaking out about what is happening to our democracy, our nation. Seems to me our so called leaders are twidling their thumbs while Rome (or the Amazon Rain Forest) burns. Sick.
Donald Trump pretends to be representing the United States, when all he's really interested in is Donald Trump and his sensitive ego. The U.S. didn't have a representative at the G7. While praising the intelligence of the American electorate, Trump secretly knows that they can be led around like bulls with nose rings - only instead of bull rings, he uses their beliefs and prejudices to lead them wherever he wants. If DJT doesn't destroy our fragile democracy, he has published the blueprint and playbook for some other demagogue to do it later. If a democracy like America's is going to exist, there will have to be a paradigm shift in human thought throughout the world. In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer based on a "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof as to how we trick the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about what is important and what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for dirty tricks and destruction. These minds see the survival of a particular belief as more important than the survival of us all. When we understand this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
1
How utterly pathetic that world economic and environmental leaders are having to find ways of skirting this pathetic president. America is not making itself greater with this con man in charge, it’s making itself more vulnerable. Meanwhile, DJT’s enablers think everything is just dandy. You couldn’t script a more insane comedy/tragedy.
3
Only in America!
One man, elected by minority of votes, can mess up the whole world, and everything is considered normal.
Curiouser and curiouser.
3
As long as Trump is President, the US should not be in the G7. The raison d’être of the G7 was to bring together leaders from democratic countries to collaboratively work together and try to find solutions to the most pressing challenges facing the earth. Donald Trump does not want to collaborate on anything and he certainly isn’t a team player. And consider his governing style. Ordering businesses to pull out of China? Continually trying to undermine the free press? Separating families at the border? Enjoying bromances with dictators Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin. Does that sound like a leader of a democratic nation to you?
As a climate change denier, Trump skipped the meeting to discuss the fires raging in the Amazon, for Pete’s Sake. If Trump pulls of the win in next year’s election, the G7 should become the G6 and right the USA off until the voters come to their senses. Then, in the interim, Trump could organize a meeting at his Doral Golf Resort with himself, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un and Putin. I’m sure a good time would be had by all.
2
Macron realizes that Bibi is dragging US and Europe into a cataclysmic war with Iran. Israeli air strikes in Lebanon, Syria and even Iraq leave no other conclusion. Both Bibi and Trump have criminal issues that require them to be reelected to save themselves. A war with Iran is the ultimate deflection and reelection strategy.
Macron must realize he is dealing with a deranged world leader who does not respond to reason and diplomatic niceties.I think some leader in England named Chamberlain could teach Macron the facts of life if he were still alive.
2
Donald Trump's most preposterous statement at the G7 meeting was that he is an "environmentalist". He confuses climate change with the serious problems of pollution. Possibly, he skipped the climate change meeting because, in a rare occurrence of introspection, he realized that he is clueless about climate science. His performance at the meeting was disgraceful. It was filled with lies. His assault on Barack Obama showed that he is a mean-spirited, loud mouthed carnival barker. One wonders if the other members of the G7 will even show up in Florida next year. By that time, they might be as exhausted with Trump's administration as we are.
3
I am so embarrassed for our country. When our POTUS can't see the economic disaster coming our way because of the ever warming planet, other leaders tip toe around him and actually are relieved he isn't in attendance to discuss. Disgusting.
1
Now where was it in the writings of Mark Twain? "Huckleberry Finn"? Some other book? I don't remember.
But he introduced a character nicknamed "Arkansas." Classic bully. Spoiling for a fight. Grouchy, irascible at the best of times. Foul-mouthed, belligerent at the worst of times.
And finally his chance comes. "You wanna FIGHT? You GOTTA a fight, pardner!. . . ." That sort of thing.
Till the barkeeper's angry wife strides in. Brandishing a formidable pair of sewing scissors. Striding up to a suddenly abashed and fearful Arkansas. Giving him (at length) the tongue lashing of his life.
"And from then on, there was ONE member of that group that ignored all the jibes thrown in his direction. And that man was ARKANSAS."
How are the mighty fallen! Frenchmen and Britishers and Germans and I don't know who--
--all TIPTOEING fearfully around our "irascible and unpredictable President."
That ain't leadership, Mr. President. Oh my Lord, that ain't leadership.
Leadership is stepping up to the plate. Leadership is listening respectfully to people as they proffer opinions and solutions that may differ from your own. Leadership is collegiality. Leadership is pulling together toward a common goal.
Leadership, Mr. Donald J. Trump, is everything--and I do mean EVERYTHING--
--you aren't.
Betcha dollars to donuts our European and Asian allies are PINING for some leadership from an American president.
Hey guys!
So are we.
1
just whom is Macron trying to kid.... trump has Never had a long and meaningful discussion on anything in his life... saving his bacon over the years has been left up to his army of enabling lawyers and meaningful thought on anything on the margins of serious endeavor has never been part of his dna.. so spare all of us the "fake news."
2
He's an embarrassment. And he's hurting not just America. He's hurting the world.
Democrats? We know the Republicans will do nothing. What say you?
3
People who support what Trump is doing suffer from a form of mass hysteria.
1
"And so it went. No tantrum."
So this is the highest achievement reached by our President?
Farce? No, absurd.
1
That Trump would purposefully miss the most important session at the G7 was meant as a slap in the face to the rest of the world, all countries of which Trump believes are out to get us. He and Bolsonaro of Brazil are one and the same: paranoid when anyone questions their understanding of how the world works.
Efforts to address climate change are based on fantasy according to Trump, he does not want the US to give up wealth gained from the extraction of fossil fuels, and he knows more about the environment than anyone. The stupidity of the people who make up this administration, aside from our obviously ignorant leader, is beyond belief. What can they possibly be thinking?
Climate change is an important economic issue, soon to become apparent even to current deniers. Our production of fossil fuels is going to be a real drag on our economy when most of the world puts its reliance on alternative sources of energy. And, wind is not doing well?
We are living in the Land of Oz.
97
@EMiller
Efforts to effect climate change are fantasy according to me, too. In that they are far little far too late. For example: Many billions of dollars worth of tariffs and disincentives should be immediately applied onto Brazil.
5
@EMiller. As with background checks and the NRA, Trump only believes what his election financiers tell him to believe. Can you imagine how much money the fossil fuel industry will be contributing to his re-election campaign?
9
@EMiller: Windmills cause cancer. The would-be King of Greenland has told us so.
6
Trump's chair is empty even when he's in it.
3
Absolutely and totally embarrassing! Our country has gone from being a leader to being barely tolerated. America is a joke!
1
The really scary thing is the rest of the summit participants treat him as if he was actually a "King" without clothes. The naked truth is he's an insane, narcissistic, bigoted, national embarrassment who needs to be be legally removed from office as soon as possible.
1
How sad it is that the leaders of the world have to consciously strive not to provoke the churlish anger of the US president, not because he is right and they are wrong, but because he is a thin skinned bully showing signs of cognitive decline.
2
"... nor hardly anyone else seemed to find this particularly disturbing."
What are you saying?
Consumptionby the United States
Reducing consumption without reducing use is a costly delusion. If undeveloped countries consumed at the same rate as the US, four complete planets the size of the Earth would be required. People who think that they have a right to such a life are quite mistaken.
� Americans constitute 5% of the world's population but consume 24% of the world's energy.
� On average, one American consumes as much energy as
o 2 Japanese
o 6 Mexicans
o 13 Chinese
o 31 Indians
o 128 Bangladeshis
o 307 Tanzanians
o 370 Ethiopians
Trump Seat is Empty--what he needs 24% of the chair space too
1
Trump a leader of the free world? No way. Just like with the Vietnam war draft, he's running the other way.
Doesn't the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution preclude a meeting of the G7 at a Trump property?
3
The G6 was better off having an empty chair, instead of an empty mind.
5
Leaders at the G7 are tasked with rectifying all the problems caused by Trump. To wit, Trump's denial of climate change, his pulling out of the Paris accords, his pulling out of the Iranian nuclear containment agreement, his ludicrous trade war with China, his desire to withdraw from NATO, his attack on the Danish Prime Minister. They are dealing with a petulant child who demands his own way. Their best course of action is to ignore him and get on with pressing issues, most of which he created.
2
It's disgusting that these world "leaders" act like children on the playground afraid to upset the bully. They should be ashamed of themselves. You don't coddle a bully. You face him. And, bullies always collapse when met with strength. The other nations should form their alliances and ignore the U.S. Trump wants to go it alone with his "America First" baloney, so other leaders should accommodate him. He only has another year to go before he's gone, anyway.
The G7 summit was an important milestone for Trump. His conduct demonstrated an increased comfort level with just being himself and not submitting to scripted statements. He has freed himself of all capable, informed, responsible aides and cabinet members and replaced them with yes men and acting appointments. He has survived the Mueller inquiry. He feels more confident that his instincts and abilities are up to the task. My point is that Trump's performance at the G7 was his real self, uncensored. His unhinged press session, his obvious lies, his dizzying flip flops on China, his Obama bashing, these were examples of raw, unfiltered Donald Trump. He is more certain than ever that he is a very stable genius, and he is becoming increasingly reckless in displaying his ignorance, dishonesty and poor judgement. Look out world, an increasingly unfettered Donald Trump is starting to impose his actual take on everything. Chaos approaches.
174
@Rob Chaos is descending as the world cottons on to what a complete fool he is.
12
President Trump will not have a meeting with Iran's Rouhani soon, or probably ever. Both parties have already erected barriers to dialogue that cannot be lowered until Trump is out of office. In any case, where's the beef for any national leader to dialogue with a Trump who never tells the truth and whose word value typically expires within 24 hours?
3
That empty chair at the summit meeting on climate issues is a symbol of the vacuum in American leadership on climate control and other world concerns. It is a symbol of wrong-headed arrogance, defiance and cowardice that other world leaders have learned to indulge with superficial good humor as the least destructive diplomatic strategy. Like our own Republicans, world leaders have chosen to cower before our bullying, disdainful president while addressing world issues as best they can without him.
118
There can be no doubt that, by and large, other world leaders regard Trump as a bizarre, dangerous anomaly on the geopolitical scene. There will be fervent hope that Trump is voted out next year such that someone more sensible (it wouldn't be hard) can bring to bear the important power of the US to help tackle pressing world problems like climate change (which Trump ignorantly denies even exists). Trump is a huge impediment to the resolution of the world's problems.
6
Although it's understandable that other leaders are carefully tip-toeing around Trump to avoid his wrath or another tweet-rant, this lets him off the hook. In his smug narcissism, Trump then thinks that everyone "likes" or "admires" him and agrees with him. He supports his own view with blatant lies, but the gray space left by the caution of other leaders provides enough credibility for Trump and his base to claim success. It's time for American and international leaders who are not Democrats to call him out for what he is - a dangerous and ignorant man who threatens the entire planet. Yes, it might ignite one of his meltdowns, but he needs to be exposed and isolated.
108
@LHW
Other countries are acting rationally in the way they treat Trump.
When your neighbor is 6 ft 4, 240... with major anger issues and an AK-15, and there are no cops to call... there is no shame in doing what you need to do to avoid setting him off.
6
@LHW - Thanks to American voters, Donald Trump is the most powerful man on earth. He can cause other countries untold strife simply out of pique. Canada is still facing tariffs on steel and aluminum, on national security grounds. World leaders have a precarious tightrope to walk. They all know he's a fool, but they can't risk raising his ire because his office gives him the power to cause their countries harm. It's a darkly laughable situation.
8
@Rob I agree with your post, but for one sentence. I'd like to see it read "thanks to the American Electoral College" .....
There were almost 3 million more of us who voted for Mrs. Clinton. I know the ECP as I call him hates that he did not win the popular vote and I try to make that point whenever and where ever I can. BTW, where is the easiest border crossing in B.C. Hopefully I won't need to cross but I'd like to keep my options open in November 2020.
9
These four years are taking FOREVER.
185
@Just Vote - Don't look now, but if the Democratic party and it's current clown-car of candidates don't get their collective acts together before next year's elections, just try to imagine the long-term damages and consequences that our current Dumbander-in-Chief may wreak on our planet during his second term.
7
@Just Vote
Yet one hates to wish life away by wanting time to move more quickly.
3
@hometeam I would definitely want the next 17 months to move more quickly. In fact, I'd like to wake up to January 2020 and watch the new president being inaugurated.
3
Next year’s G7 may well become Gx+1 (with x<6) if Trump persists on inviting Putin as a guest. Putin would not attend as a fifth wheel hanging around on the outside and talking to lesser invited dignitaries. If he attends it would be under the condition, secretly arranged with his host, that he be ushered into the actual business meetings, which I am sure would result in walkout by some members with lots of unpleasantries. I hope they make that clear to Trump from the outset.
In my view Russia does not belong into the G group not only for misbehaving in Crimea, but more importantly because of it’s weak economy relative to the present member of the G7. Russia’s economy is ranked 12th in the world behind a democratic South Korea, a much more deserving potential member.
4
I think Trump wanted a throne or at least 24% of the chair space since American consumes 24% of the world's energy.
America has had the fortune of the right President at the right moment in history==until this Century. The burning of the magnificent Amazon-could there be anymore appropriate analogy for Democracy as well...
4
It is unclear whether anything meaningful was achieved at this G 7 Summit. While France was this year's host, the country's President was seen to be taking all the initiatives.
There was little or no discussion on global trade, and a Recession threat. Beyond the disaster that is now srriking the Amazon, there is very little we see of what was agreed on global climate change. While we do not see the Summit Agenda, there are other issues like Terrorism, Cyber Warfare which we do not know, whether they were brought up. Or Russia's election interference in various countries.
1
It should be pointed out that when asked about his attendance at the environmental meeting, Trump answered that it was the "next" session - still to be held. In actuality, it was completed at that time. It was also suggested, by his staff, I believe, that Trump was meeting with the German and Japanese leaders at the time of the environmental session, when photographs show those leaders in attendance at the session and an empty chair in Trump's place. Of course, the chair would be equally empty even if Trump were sitting in it.
10
Please, let’s not even countenance the possibility of next year’s summit being held at Doral. This would be a clear conflict of interest and illegal. This must be opposed by the public, the politicians, and the press. The breaking of laws becomes the norm if we are resigned to accepting them.
9
I'm sure there may have been important reasons to bring these world leaders to the table together in the past. Trump will host next year and make a personal fortune off taxpayer's money from having it at one of his properties. He will invite Putin as a way to stick it to the other leaders on that stage. It seems that only Mr. Trump benefits from having these talks continue.
3
Reading this, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to cry or scream. Despite so many people vowing not to become inured to Trump’s outrageous behavior, his idiocy has become the new normal.
Will we ever right ourselves and resume our role on the world stage, or has Trump caused irreparable and lasting damage? Can you imagine the behind the scenes giggles and eye-rolls at the G-7? We are a laughing stock.
How far we have fallen. So quickly too.
8
That Congress has become an enabler--or an accomplice?--of the President of the United States, and the G6(+1) is in a state of codependency with him is almost unbelievable. If this plot was a work of fiction I'd throw in down in disgust.
Meanwhile the world burns and the hope for a decent and viable future, or any future, for the grandchildren is going up in smoke. That the six largest economies in the world (plus one) pledged a total of $20 million while actor Leonardo DiCaprio's foundation pledged $5 million for action on the Amazon fires should make G6(+1) hang their heads in shame.
6
Trump's disrespectful, unprofessional and incompetent behavior concerning the duties of his office is embarrassing. He makes you feel like you're the parent of a difficult, moody teenager who refuses to cooperate.
He is such a disgrace.
16
Thanks for your spot-on comment Susan. If the Fake President is the impossibly temperamental teen, then the Republican sycophants who cling to him are those enabling losers we’ve all experienced from our long-ago high school years, so insecure themselves, who were attracted to the “king” of their unaccomplished pack of punks.
These leaders are treating Trump exactly the way a victim approaches a bully, or a family approaches an abusive parent. Avoid him if possible, don't provoke him, wait him out. And Trump, like any bully or abuser, proudly perceives this as respect. But fear is not respect. Trump never learned this and never will.
10
@KMJ
Respect is peculiar that way. You give none you get none.
Trump's "America First" is a perversion of the Monroe Doctrine's bias towards multilateralism and non-intervention, unless it's in his interests (see "let's buy Greenland!") It willfully ignores fundamental economics, internationalization of supply chains, and the drivers of, and empathy for, human migration.
I'm exhausted by his thin skin, "nastiness," petulance, profound ignorance, incoherence, juvenile vocabulary, proclamations and walkbacks, absence of a rational strategy, and the smug, unwarranted sense of superiority. Not to mention governance by tweet, the cowardice to engage personally, congenital lying, gaslighting, self dealing, absurd rationalizations of his enablers, and the daily whipsawing by his administration and the media at large. I could go on.
This G7 conference confirmed his inability to play well with others and the obstructiveness of his arms-crossed personal isolation. If Congress won't pursue impeachment and his Cabinet won't act on the powers of the 25th Amendment, we must move to close the gap caused by others nations deciding to move on.
Perhaps it's time for a "deep state" or shadow governance whereby state or federal agencies deploy representatives to participate with other nations in respective forums on trade, immigration, and climate change, to name but a few. Trump's autocracy is untenable. We may never regain primacy in the world arena, but we cannot afford to be outside looking in, detached from economic and diplomatic engagement.
6
"Don't get him mad" - is how bullies and abusers dominate. They instill such fear over their anger and outbursts that their victims hide and comply. So here we are seeing this in action on an international scale. Bullies need to be challenged - especially spineless, dishonest, immoral ones like Trump.
20
"Mr. Trump also created some unease with seesaw statements on the tariff war with China, but the assembled heads of government bent over backward not to provoke his ire."
This is so pathetic. Donald Trump has learned, to the detriment of the world, that screaming and shouting will get him everything.
Its one thing for Republicans who fear not winning elections-not cool, definitely cowardly, but plausible.
But our allies? they don't need Trump's approval so why did they tippy toe around his fragile ego?
Maybe if more of the world just challenged this man from the very start, he could finally learn he's not the center of the universe, even he assumes he is.
7
I was furious when Tony Blair in effect gave George Bush a pass to invade Iraq. The stakes are arguably as high now. Time for the rest of the world’s leading economies’ leaders to realize that the US is not now a reliable partner, and coddling is complicity. Why give Trump a pass on his idiocy on climate change? They do us no favors.
5
It’s quite obvious that the G6 do not take number seven seriously. Given Trump’s erratic behavior and lies, nothing he contributes or says has any relevance anyway. We, the world, are just waiting for this nightmare called Trump to be over.
13
We Americans would be well advised to begin developing a plan on how America is going to repair and reverse the Trump damage after he is gone.
Part of that chore is to find a way to reach the Trump base that has glowed in his nationalism and anti environmentalism.
He's such a child, and yet the leaders of the free world are cowed and, yes, weak, in the face of our bully in chief.
Just once, I'd love to see someone stand face-to-face with him and PROVOKE him into a rage that is so out of control, Republicans would have no choice but to invoke the 25th amendment.
Everybody knows it; Trump is close to the edge of utter raging madness.
8
@FrankWillsGhost
Bingo!
The rest of the world needs to treat us as the rogue nation we have become. Don’t let the bully called Trump win. Call him out on his deplorable behavior.
6
Once again Trump's erratic behaviour and spectacular ignorance of facts showed that he is by no measure 'leader of the free world'. Trump is nothing like a leader. Trump is an isolationist rabble rouser. President Macron emerged as a true leader and at this point could be justifiably regarded as a 'leader of the free world'.
4
Just another example of how #45 has damaged America and our standing throughout the world. He will be gone some day, hopefully sooner than later, but then it will take extraordinary leadership and work— and many years— to "make America great again" in the eyes of the world. As an American who loves my country, I'm embarrassed and exasperated beyond words for how people now see us. It's pitiful.
5
It should be a point of pride to see our president among other heads of state engaging them in significant conversations. With Trump it's total chaos. He knows virtually nothing so his default action is to concoct outlandish statements, lies, and whatever else he can do to avoid acting presidential in the company of what should be his peers. And does it surprise anyone that preoccupying Trump's mind is promoting the next G7 meeting to be held at his Doral property, with its ample parking and wonderful food? We are witnessing the most simple minded and money hungry person to ever occupy the White House. Other heads of state have to be scratching their heads wondering how the most powerful nation in the world elected such an incompetent and corrupt man.
7
Tiptoeing around Trump is exactly the wrong thing to do. It only emboldens him to be even more obnoxious and reckless than he already is. Remember how well appeasement worked in the 1930's?
3
The G7 leaders (minus one) are taking the right approach. Move on without engaging Trump. He is utterly untrustworthy and erratic and no statement or action from Trump is best. They should be firm on two things, though: keep Putin out and stay away from Trump's golf resorts.
Beyond that, Western democracies may have to wean themselves from American leadership unless American voters decide to give Trump and his Republican acolytes the boot.
4
Trump's supporters in the U.S. (and elsewhere) have never seen the political and diplomatic processes that go on in the world as actual events that impact them. These are abstract things that simply never trouble their thoughts. Before Trump, the goings on in Washington and other capitals were distant events, irrelevant to their lives. Trump has made these exciting. He has transformed them into a reality show in which he is the star. His simplistic outbursts and rants resonate because they are expressed in terms that can be understood even if the greater context cannot. His anger against China, his desire to buy Greenland or his contempt for the media all resonate. There is no perceptible effect, good or bad in their daily lives which links Trumps words, their effect on the price of oil or stocks, that they can perceive. The trips to the Walmart, in the next town or just across the state line, are no different than they have ever been. Unless you are a Midwest farmer, your life goes on as it always has, Judge Judy in the afternoon, Trump on Fox News in the evening. It is this almost bovine complacency that Republicans rely upon. If you can get enough of these Trump supporters sufficiently "riled up" to get out and vote, things can continue as they are. The great inequality in America is not just about money, it is about information and the intellectual will and ability to access it. And that sad divide, is growing.
7
It certainly wasn't the G-7, nor the G-7 minus Trump, it is really the G-6. Trump just wasted America's time and embarrassed us once again on the international stage. He has conveniently forgotten that while he won the electoral college, he did not win the popular vote. He represents around 30% of the Country, to everyone else, he's a giant embarrassment. Congress, do your job, it's time to bounce him back to the Trump Tower; there will be no tears.
9
Apparently the Group of Seven doesn't want to provoke the POTUS. This is folly. If the Group of Seven doesn't have enough backbone to criticize the POTUS then he will take it that he alone is right and the world approves of his folly.
4
@Stephen Kurtz: I am a 68 year old woman and I'd like just five minutes alone with the bully. I know I could take him down. Why won't all of these 'leaders'?
3
What an embarrassment Trump is. Adults there to discuss and responsibly grapple with challenges facing the modern world having to tiptoe around so our overgrown toddler of a “president” won’t throw a tantrum, crying in his high chair and throwing food at the walls and creating a scene. No one takes him seriously and based on his insane behavior, no one should.
Again, embarrassing. This “presidency” will be a permanent stain on the United States, provided we actually survive it.
4
You cannot avoid Trump getting mad because he is mad and shows his madness day after day with ever increasing degrees of madness. As politicians, including Trump, often say, God save the United States.
1
It’s a sad state of affairs when world leaders have to tiptoe around another world “leader” so he doesn’t have another tantrum, send out tweets that cause the stock market to fall precipitously or threaten to nuke somebody leading to world chaos. I think this behavior is called enabling and the outcome of such enabling is also something to be feared. This is all so dangerous and perverse!
2
Knowing full well that Trump would not positively contribute, the other G-7 sought only not to provoke his anger. So they, like all White House personnel and GOP elected officials, are letting the 73 year old baby’s potential for temper tantrums take over the world order. This is wrong. Why don’t they give him a time out and send him to his room?
6
It seems ridiculous that leaders of other countries don't speak their mind, wanting to avoid getting Trump upset. What is he, a child? Oh, right he is. Still, forget this man-child. Say what needs to be said and let Trump leave the room, slam the door and sulk in his room.
2
There is a curve of real depression here among many Americans. First, there was a lot of frustration at his behavior, his banning all Muslims, his crowd size fixation, his endless nasty tweets. Lots of marches and demonstrations for immigrants, women, gun violence.
Now, silence. Passivity. It isn't really so much passive as exhausted and ashamed. Our energy and emotions have been beaten to a pulp by the 24/7 needy drama and endless lying. His anger, his nastiness is the business of poor sleep, anxiety, depression. My Dr. tells me the amount of patients being treated for this has tripled since our election.
I watch him bluster his way around a world stage and feel sympathy for all those attempting to keep America's first "patient" in chief calm and stable. I understand their need to not engage in any warfare with him. It is not the fear as suggested in this piece though. It is the dose of reality that signals his lack of normalcy and thoughtfulness is aberrant and a symptom of that for which there is no cure. The G7 cannot cure this, we cannot cure this. Keeping the world safe from this is all they must do.
1
Trump has become the crazy uncle that all his relatives avoid at Thanksgiving dinner. People have learned to humor him, and stick him at the kid's table in case he makes a mess.
7
Such an extreme embarrassment, albeit for only half the country. And that is the single greatest tragedy of the current presidency - we have placed on florid display for all the world to see the racism, greed, arrogance, and, yes, stupidity of far too great a percentage of our population. And although he is the worst example, and exploits it to the max, this didn't all begin with Trump, and the world now knows it won't end with his departure from the scene. The US will not soon live this down. How can one recover trust in such a nation? Especially when it's armed to the hilt.
6
Trump is a wrecker. Everything he touches, he demeans and breaks. In his eyes, he must win and others must lose.
The G7 have recognised reality and are working around him, effectively side lining the US.
If this is winning, I can't wait for us to start losing again.
4
"“The question I was asked most today by fellow World Leaders, who think the USA is doing so well and is stronger than ever before, happens to be, ‘Mr. President, why does the American media hate your Country so much? Why are they rooting for it to fail?’”
Unless one of the World Leaders confesses to saying this, it is probably another lie."
Probably another lie? Ridiculous! Of course its a lie. The real pity is that the other leaders don't stand together and call Trump out on his lies. That's a story I'd like to see in the press; why don't they stand together and stand up to him.
4
" 'The question I was asked most today by fellow World Leaders, who think the USA is doing so well and is stronger than ever before, happens to be, 'Mr. President, why does the American media hate your Country so much? Why are they rooting for it to fail?' ' "
This from the man who felt the need to construct a lie about the head of the Boy Scouts calling him to offer congratulations on the greatest speech ever.
With Trump, a man who seems determined to create his own alternate reality, the embarrassments and indignities inflicted upon America on the World stage are unceasing. This disturbed man must be removed from power by the most expedient legal means available. Even then, America faces difficult work in regaining its credibility.
5
If the summit next year is , in fact, in Miami at Trump's resort. And he invites the Russians, the other members should not attend. And if Trump springs a surprise on them at the last minute "Look who just happened to be in the neighborhood", they should all get up, pack their bags, and leave. Leaving Trump with all that food and drink no one will enjoy. Because, in reality, Trump will set the agenda and all these allies will be wasting their time and money coming here to listen to Trump be a blowhard. They could get far more done elsewhere.
5
From world leader to world laughingstock (and disrupter). So far, fruitless fights with friends, unnecessary trade wars, and an unappeasable ego. Of course, he's going to bring peace in Palestine, coal jobs in Ohio/WV, create the perfect healthcare system, and lift tens of millions of Americans out of poverty.
3
Trump is uncomfortable with people who are informed, well respected and powerful. It's what he wants to be but knows he isn't. The other G7 leaders are on to him, and he knows that. The bully in the schoolyard who the teachers dislike and the other students despise.
237
@Panthiest - Absolutely correct.
When we turn our backs on our allies, proclaim we're "going it alone" to "Make America Great Again," this is what we reap.
Without liberal democratic allies, we haven't the power to get things done. Without their support, we have no one behind us, let alone by our side, when we need to make a deal, save face, shift gears.
In less than three short years, Trump has isolated the United States, whose "former" allies' biggest fear of him is his temper.
Trump's currency as schoolyard bully is draining fast. At some point, other countries are going to recognize this about him - if they haven't already, at which point they'll trade without us, travel without us, progress without us, and isolate us on our Manifest Destiny continent in ways that will make us and our national character perceptibly poorer than we can imagine.
PS: There is no tipping point when it comes to Trump; there is no single moment when everything starts to turn and his supporters recognize how much they've been taken in. We most vote, and get others to vote, and get him gone. He'll still make noise, whether in or out of jail; fortunately, it'll be "ex-President noise," and we'll have the chance to breathe.
33
@Panthiest trump is mostly uncomfortable around intelligent people. He cannot carry on a conversation about anything except himself.
18
Is this a president or a timeshare salesman?
The one subject at the G-7 summit on which Mr. Trump’s intentions appeared clear & coherent was his plan to steer the next G-7 summit, which the United States is due to host, to his own Doral golf resort near Miami — thereby injecting a huge stimulus into what has been a struggling business.
Trump's travels to his properties on 255 days of his presidency, have funneled a fortune in taxpayer dollars to the Trump Organization. Seated Monday at the G-7 with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump gave a hard sell for his Doral resort...
“I don’t care about making money,” Trump claimed Monday. What’s more, “I’m not going to make any money” from hosting the G-7 at Doral. Of course not. And if you don’t believe him, you can check his tax returns.
His scheme cries out for congressional intervention; if the emoluments clause of the Constitution means anything, it must forbid such blatant self-dealing.
“Trump would basically be compelling foreign governments to spend money at his personal resort, while promoting the resort on the world stage,” said Deepak Gupta, an ethics lawyer with expertise in such cases.
"That’s inconsistent with both the letter and the spirit of the Constitution,” Mr. Gupta said. Trump’s use of his official position for personal gain is blatant and pervasive.
7
So plain in his limitations, his triggers and his guaranteed responses to slights- it's quite a simple game for other leaders to play him, make sport of him- tell him what he wants to hear- play to his vanity - and then go do what they really want to do. He plays every hand showing his cards- no craft, no guile, no care put into the work of statesmanship. Other leaders have played him and will play him because of this. Not good for us.
236
@JBW It may be a good Trump management strategy at this point for the other leaders ... his tantrums make the headlines, distracting from and overshadowing the substantive work and decisions of this group, as reported in the media. This has been his hallmark at home too.
Trump's ignorance of the issues, inability to see other perspectives, and outbursts -- yes, lack of statesmanship and care -- must also derail discussion during the sessions themselves, rendering the relatively short time less productive.
We could view it as a reasonable approach, rather than "tip-toeing around him" as the NYT characterizes it.
15
@Becca Yes; they don't need to tip toe. They just excuse themselves and walk around him.
9
It's really very simple. Trump simply does not know how to do the job. He doesn't know how. It doesn't appear that anything will change until he is out of office. It is shameful that the GOP enablers in both chambers of Congress have not stepped in to rectify the situation. My guess is they won't do it as long as he keeps on appointing conservative judges to the federal courts and putting his interim/acting cabinet members in position to carry out the wishes of the Citizens United/ALEC crowd.
Are there no patriots remaining in the GOP?
361
@Boneisha. No there are NO patriots remaining in the GOP. The GOP clearly does not care one iota about the environment or their country as long as they have theirs namely money and power. They do not even care about future generation, their own children or grandchildren.
To me it seems we are doomed and the 6th extinction of mammals, with the help of humans, is well on its way.
39
I agree completely, but it must also be said that this is mostly due to Moscow Mitch's ambition, fear of opposition from his own party and corrruption.
35
@Boneisha The Republican voters I know who care about the environment (and a lot of other issues) have left the party and are now unaffiliated.
27
By deliberately skipping the environmental meeting, President Trump was able to call attention to himself one more time.
He was present by his absence.
Fortunately for the other leaders, their sufficient discomfort was, for one session, eased, and they were pleased.
Perhaps during next election season, some of those leaders will take him on.
177
@Doug Giebel
They should have drafted Trump into the enviro hearing using a loud ungentlemanly bull horn. And only $20 million G-7 aid for the Amazon disaster? Shame on all of them!
4
My fantasy is world leaders issuing a communique that says they will postpone any major actions that need US involvement until someone other than Trump is President. Perhaps that will wake up the voters who think Trump is The Chosen One. It certainly won't affect Trump, of course.
7
I like the term I heard today, "G6 +1". We've used that in the past to downgrade lesser participants, which we are now......unfortunately.
561
@J Darby “G6 + 1/2”.
61
@Doug Lowenthal
OK, so I was being generous........☺That I can tell you.
5
@Doug Lowenthal
How about 1/10th, based on only one tenth of grey cells under his orange fox compared to the other G6 leaders?
8
Global forums really highlight that, with Trump in the White House, the United States is the farthest from being a world leader. And Trump could not have been more wrong when he said that our country would be so much more respected internationally under him than under President Obama.
779
@NM--Trump lives in a fantasy world, like Walter Mitty, where he's King of Everything. He sometimes lets his delusions fall out of his mouth. That's all that statement was.
15
@NM
Since everything Trump says is a lie, even when it does not *have to be (see definition of "pathological liar"), believing *one word he utters says more about the listener than it does about the pathological liar.
This is why the Media *must stop treating his pronouncements as valid.
This editorial doesn't say but shows what has happened to America under the non-leadership of Donald Trump. We are a country to be placated, pandered to, survived, and ignored. If we are not at the table on climate change that's really better. Many in the media, the Republican Party and forty percent of this country have normalized and approved Trump's domestic and international behavior--including lie after lie. If Trump gets a second term, America may no longer exist as a world power or influence of any kind. That's what this editorial shows even though it doesn't have the courage to say it.
24
You can't put a price on clean air, good strong forests, and thriving biodiversity. Ergo, Trump doesn't care.
17
Trump is like Krakatoa in 1883. A volcano that caused a tsunami. A seasonal and temporary disruption of the global system. The magnificent eruption cast a pall of ash over the entire planet for upwards of a year, altering weather patterns and temperatures as far away as US and Europe. Global temperatures were altered for up to five years. Eventually it blew over, same will be for Trump the climate denier and abdicator of the responsibility of his high office.
20
It is no accident that the language of diplomacy was French. And may be again.
Macron is skillfully manipulating the art of putting his country first while saying he wants the greater good. He is helped by both the suicide of a Brexit Britain and a bellicose US President who shouts he is "negotiating" for his country.
Macron is also helped by his support of innovation driving France's economy and the US Press determined to remove the US President.
4
the great difference between Johnson and Trump is that at any given time Johnson exactly knows what he is doing. as such, maybe, he actually is more dangerous.
12
Can we all just take a minute to appreciate the tap-dancing of Macron for a minute.
ON the one hand he is giving Trump pats on the back and being kind - like he's taking care of his elderly uncle - while knowing he cannot take a thing DT says very seriously at all.
And he is pulling it all off with a smile.
Bravo monsieur!
72
@EC
I agree, a true friend of the United States of America is Macron.
4
I'm not sure fear is the right word. It's more like caution. The adults in the room are trying to get things done. Please don't wake the baby. I'd be relieved to see an empty chair at my meetings too. Thank goodness. I don't have to feign politeness and respect for Donald J. Trump for at least one hour of the day. Phew.
Dismaying though it may be, there's absolutely nothing constructive the President could add to a conversation on climate change. There's rarely anything constructive the President can add to any conversation. Quite frankly, an empty chair does the job better than he does. Notice the relative peace and tranquility the United States experiences whenever Trump is out of the country. European leaders recognize this effect.
They're waiting out this President just like everyone else. When will this intolerable man ever be gone? The sooner, the better.
84
@Andy
“waiting out this President” is dangerous for both America and the world.
While we are waiting, the earth’s environment continues to decay, and Trump may lead us into unnecessary economic chaos and recession——or worse, global war.
This ignorant and incompetent President must be removed from office now, before more harm is inflicted upon America.
2
@Andy...”please don’t wake the baby”. Well put,thanks.
2
The Group of 6 + 1 has ended its meeting, with Mr. Trump, as he is wont to do, only interested in getting business arranged for one of his commercial properties, a golf course in Florida to be the site next year for the Meet and Eaters to hold their next Economic/World Trade Summit.
Rather than be concerned about the havoc raging against this country's interior, the farmers and residents of incomprehensibly both flooded and heat baked bread basket of the world the only deal Mr.Trump fell back on was to talk about his irrelevant green-back interests supposedly which he has no munificent interest while he is still titular occupant of the White House.
Trump is totally disinterested in the well-being of persons in the United States whom he took an Oath of Office to protect under the US Constitution. His international financial interests are his only goals. Meanwhile the whole Earth is burning up. Brazil's rainforest is just a screaming out of control wildfire that is daily repeated in California, a Blue State, and basically anywhere else where people are living at risk.
Tell me why we should tolerate this rascals malfeasances while our Congress is trying to document El Presidente Trump's dalliances with our under water Treasury from the past and present. Lock him up.
51
The assertion in this editorial that Macron's plan is to influence Putin as a means to influence Trump on the Iranian deal is a great guess. Trump's ongoing, hyper focused battle to keep his taxes from both legislative and public view give us reason to believe that it's likely true.
Along with his bratty demands that Russia remake the G8, his implicit permission for its election meddling, his efforts to undermine sanctions, all the lies about campaign member communications and his ongoing secret efforts to build Trump Moscow tell us that the reason for his inexplicable allegiance to Putin is in those returns.
Clearly, Macron's got his number. Perhaps Trump's own broken party will find a way to manage him as well as Macron.
21
Don’t any of these European leaders know children? You do not allow a difficult child to act up. Yes, he’s the president of a very large country with a lot of resources, but there are still ways to check him. At least let him know in no uncertain terms that his behavior makes him less, I don’t know, popular. Or simply act like the adults in the room, not bullied schoolmates. I understand they’re afraid of his erratic behavior, but it’s becoming increasingly clear neither they nor he control how he does responds.
14
@1 Woman
Well said, The "President" is a bully and being afraid to talk or discuss the issues that will affect the world is not the way to handle this president. I am embarrassed for my country and wish the Republican party would speak up!
1
The US has relinquished the role of ‘leader of the free world’, and the American people appear fine with that. The EU is filling that vacuum, and China has taken the role of the opposition.
44
@Christopher
"The US has relinquished the role of ‘leader of the free world’, and the American people appear fine with that."
Well, when you project your country as a superhero to the world for 70 years and then in the twinkling of an eye replace that fallacy with an actual cartoon, what do you expect?
1
I understand President Macron’s desperation to salvage the Iranian deal from which Trump withdrew, but Trump's history of diplomacy presents more danger than hope. My guess is that Macron has discussed this with Putin, another signatory of the Iranian deal, knowing that Trump is likely to bide Putin's wishes. With his mysterious power over our American president, Putin remains an important world leader.
4
@syfredrick
I do not hold by the criticisms in unison of President Trump's abilities to negotiate or to hold his tongue.
He may defy certain norms of standard behavior, but he even showed at the Summit that he understands some basic issues that the other participants do not- such as that the big immediate issues such as the travesty of the previous "Iran deal" need more than talk and pledges.
2
@Hope
You label the Iranian treaty a travesty, indeed many individuals from different countries, smarter than you or I, worked on this agreement. The consensus was that this was a good deal. The fact was that Iran was in compliance with this agreement. But the ignorant trump tore this agreement up, replaced with nothing.
Of course, Iran is the nemesis of Israel, that is understood, although Israel has no problem with Saudi Arabia. The business of politics does make for strange bed-fellows.
@Hope
Please, do tell, what was the 'travesty of the previous Iran deal'? Except that Obama had something to do with it, which Trump cannot tolerate.
1
If Mr. Trump invites Putin for the summit next year and also tries holding the summit at one of Trump's properties, I hope all of the other 6 countries don't show up.
They could have their own summit in the country who would normally be hosting in 2021.
Mr. Trump is not a mentally balanced individual.
109
I agree 100% ,He says he is losing money at his property ,so why does he not just resign .you cannot not believe one word he says .proof 12,000 lies since in office.
2
President of the St Louis Federal Reserve James Bullard said there is a “regime shift” in world economics at the recent Jackson Hole central bank meeting. The current erratic political environment is unpredictable and no sound logic to follow with. It makes central bankers difficult to set future monetary polices.
The elephant in the room is US president Donald Trump.
Donald Trump has destroyed world order the free world had built over the past seventy-five years since 1945. World economies are upset by his unpredictable, tweeter-happy, reactions driven by his emotional pulses.
Central bankers argued "The US accounts for only 10 per cent of global trade and 15 per cent of global gross domestic product but the dollar is used to price half of trade invoices and two-thirds of global securities issuance."
The US dollar as the international currency for trade is questioned its viability due to unstable US political and economic conditions.
That is a vital privilege we have enjoyed in the past and may be gradually abandoned by other developed countries.
Weak-up Americans. Our failed economy creates a great divide between haves and have-nots and unstable governance. We need to find remedies before we become irrelevant.
47
I just can't help but to think of Bizarro World, where up is down, etc, from the old Superman comics when I read of Biarritz (of Basque origin), the French resort city hosting the G-7 Summit .
Bizarre is descriptive, of the Biarritz Summit that was not a meeting of world leaders but rather a family gathering of responsible mature adults and a cantankerous, impulsive and outspoken "grandpa". "Don't upset grandpa, don't get him mad," - as immediate calm and relief came when trump was not in the room. Then it's, "Let's get down to real business," as talk became rational and civil.
Did he push anybody out of the way to get in the center of that group photo? Did he avoid the Amazon meeting so the US wouldn't have to put in a donation?
"That's the way I negotiate", may be his forte but I only read of promises of a Japanese trade deal, a meeting with the Iranians, Putin's invitation next year, and pushing his Florida property as the best location for next year's summit.
29
Here I thought the shadow of the younger Bush era was over, and it couldn't get any worse, and boy was I wrong. I don't know, I really don't see how his supporters can spin this, the way world leaders are treating him like a spoiled brat (then again, they mistook China's pandering for actual adulation), leaving him out of the adults' conversations. Sure, this might not matter to people who have never left their towns, but this is still damage to our country. Lasting damage that God knows when will be repaired, if at all.
78
Trump is deteriorating. He's unpredictable, inconsistent, volatile. We are all just waiting for him to be impeached or voted out of office, and so are our leaders.
127
This Editorial Board piece was refreshingly funny, at the same time touches perhaps too lightly over severserious issues.
The world leaders need to respect Mr. Bolsonaro- which they did not- and if he agrees, must send a massive coordinated effort of firefighting planes to Brazil now, not just talk about money.
Also largely skipped over was the reason for the surprise arrival of the Iranian officials in Paris. Nowhere is it written the reason he came- Iran is on the verge of bankruptcy and came to plead against possible European sanctions. The visit may also be a cover for Iranian ramping-up in the past 2 weeks of its war in the to take over the Middle East.
3
Americans don't get a lot of international news (hint), even so, it has become clear that the rest of the world is recreating their alliances and will do business around us.
China has been making investments in resource rich nations for decades. They have begun to shift their import business to other suppliers.
European govts are still feeling the fallout of the war our last GOP president sold them. They are wary of yet another truth challenged GOP president.
Bush was all about the "New American Century" just before he exploded the economy.
Trump's "making us great again" promises to be every bit as, if not more, entertaining than the last go round
43
It is time to stop considering ourselves victims of one person in an oval office and to stop attention flowing in that direction. As with a tempestuous child, less attention should be given to bad behavior.
We should focus on solutions for climate change, equality, sustainable business models, affordable healthcare, and reasonable gun control.
We should send representatives from California to discuss climate change at the next Paris Accord discussion. If there is an empty seat, perhaps Macron will be willing to fill it with representatives from a state active in improving our planet.
We should send more people to the Golden Triangle in Mississippi to meet with Joe Max Higgins to learn how to revitalize a region.
We should look to the Kaiser foundation for solutions to bring down the cost of healthcare.
The list continues.
It is time to focus our time, money, and energy on people that provide solutions.
151
@U.S. Agreed. I have gone from watching Trump on the news with horror, to simply changing the channel. Everything he says is totally irrelevant rambling. The rest of the world is realizing this too. He's simply having a 4-year tantrum and we'll just have to pick up the mess when he's gone (hopefully January 2121)
5
@U.S.AMEN!!!!
2
@U.S. YES to this!!! Not sure how feasible it is, but "we" should just ignore him and work around him!!
1
"The leaders of the major economies tiptoed around the irascible and unpredictable American president."
They should have given him a time-out.
62
@Keith Dow
The USA should give him a time-out ASAP.
3
The adults leading other nations are just waiting for the nightmare to pass, just like the majority of Americans, while hoping he doesn't cause any further damage on his way out.
187
The G7 members aren’t tiptoeing around Trump, they are ignoring him as they should as he has nothing of substance to offer their deliberations.
2
@Rich
Of course, there were those who were waiting for the nightmare of Hitler to pass, but that nightmare did not pass on it's own, or before six million Jews were slaughtered, along with homosexuals, Roma, political dissidents, the physically and mentally disabled, and many allied military personally were maimed and killed.
There's no reason to believe that the nightmare of Trump will pass before 2024, by which point little will be left to salvage.
2
I'm not sure what they're all afraid of. So he throws a tantrum. So what? That would be something new?
35
@XXX
Welcome to the Age of Diminished Expectations - it's not a big deal anymore when our president throws a fit.
1
@XXX
Not afraid, more like appalled that anyone should think that throwing tantrums is appropriate behavior at his age, and in his position.
1
Too bad nobody with the power to enforce the 25th Amendment has the will to enforce it.
146
Lackey Pence and the Craven Cabinet would need to start the 25th Amendment process. That’s not going to happen unless Trump’s mental health deteriorates more dramatically and visibly.
22
@sashakl, they must fear that Pence would be worse than Trump. He’s certainly not electable.
4
@Dale Peterson
He's babbling incoherently for hours at a time. What more are they waiting for?
4
The G7 leaders simply took their cues from congressional Republicans who look the other way, check their phones and shuffle their feet every time Mr, Trump says or does something outlandish or offensive. In their defense, the other attendees at the summit had actual work to do and chose to ignore, rather than placate the boorish child among them.
94
It is embarrassing to watch Mr. Trump at these meetings. The lies...about the China phone call, Mnuchin’s body language gave that one away. Or that he had prior commitments with Germany and India so that was why he did not attend the climate change session. Did he think we wouldn’t notice that Mrs. Merkel and Mr. Modi did attend that session? The hawking of his Doral property as a possible site for the next G7 was cringe worthy. The possibility of inviting Mr. Putin to the next G7 meeting in an election year - really?! I’d hope that every reporter asks members of Congress, especially those who are up for re-election, how they would feel about that?
I can only imagine what Mr. Trump’s “performance” will be like at next month’s UN meeting. November 3, 2020 can’t come soon enough.
259
@JCAZ the UN should make the focus of it's next meeting to be on climate change. You can be sure Trump will find an excuse not to attend.
22
@JCAZ
The best lie was that Melania Trump has gotten to know Kim Jong Un. Hahahaha.
2
The blame for inflicting "Michigan Man Of the Year" on the world, rests squarely on the shoulders of the GOP senators who have allowed the carnage to continue.
109
Keep him happy. Pat him on the back. Ignore any outrages. Be thankful for his absences. Then go about the work of attending to world problems, the G-6's new mantra. Is it O.K. if I get mad at the President for them or would that be out of line?
26
The last line should read "Stand up G7 Nations to trump as you have in kicking out Putin. Future generations will judge harshly the current era of trump, Republicans, and those who did not speak up or did not vote to make the world a better place for future generations. Vote in 2020 to begin repairing the damage." There's no need to tiptoe around trump. He has isolated the whole world.
37
Oh, god, how I miss having caring, thoughtful adults in the White House. Brazil's rain forests are one of the world's lungs. Without a large, sprawling, in-tact rain forest, any effort at mitigating climate change disasters will be set back even more decades. Considering under Trump, the U.S. has been backtracking and happily dropping the ball with regards to our quickly changing climates, we (the world) are going to pay in spades. I am a great-uncle to many and I sincerely fear for their future.
My fellow Americans who still support the Trump presidency, shame on you--you care only for your pocketbook or some imagined America that never was.
110
Trump didn't know the correct time of the meaning. And evidently no one could get up and go tell him it was time for the meeting.
12
I can no longer believe that three years on in this "presidency", international leaders treat Trump's comments and actions as if he were any other president in our history. The fact is, Trump's views on trade, economics, and foreign policy are incoherent, his demands ridiculous at best and incomprehensible at worst. It is clear that he is no longer a sane man.
Trump has said that he and dictator Kim are in love. He has said that Denmark has agreed to sell Greenland to him. And the G7 leaders actually tiptoe around an obviously deranged man? We have seen a number of instances in history, where insane, evil men went unchecked. Were treated as simply "political" figures on the world stage, and so were enabled. Were appeased. Until it was too late.
And "too late" for us is already in the rearview mirror. Even if we elect a new president in 2020 (assuming that Trump permits an election), it will take us decades to repair the damage he's caused, both domestically and internationally.
We are so far into 25th Amendment territory that we can no longer see its borders. And this is because 45% of Americans love this insane man. They know he is delusional, but they just don't care. He gives them license to be as bigoted as he is, and this is all they want. If the trade-off is global recession, they will take this deal every day.
And our grandchildren here and throughout the world will be paying the price for their willful ignorance and bigotry.
136
We need to examine how we got to a place where ‘45% of Americans love this insane man.’ Seriously. Trump isn’t a one-off and voting him out of office, if he will even go, will not solve the problems of how we got here. People do not get insanely angry for no reason.
We have gutted our public schools to the point where, on certain measures, there are 3rd world countries that beat us. Our political system is utterly dominated by money/lobbyists, in other words, open bribery and corruption - *Hundreds* of current and former prosecutors signed a letter saying the president broke the law and nothing was done.
People are confused and angry and you have a perfected system of propaganda telling them who to be angry at and why…and they believe it. Did the field of journalism unite and stand up and confront faux news as they decimated the 4th estate to the point where those 45% see the news as just opinion and alternative facts? No, they didn’t.
Public schools are still funded by local property taxes and the results are apparent: people who cannot decipher truth from false, people who dismiss science, people who arrive at adulthood without critical thinking skills or knowledge about America/the world. All of these things and more are happening and have been happening for a long time.
Trump is not a one-off. He came about because of systemic problems in America that have gone unaddressed, steadily getting worse, over the course of decades. We need to unite and fix it.
31
International leaders are not the American electorate, they have no control over who Americans vote into the presidency. It is not their responsibility to make Trump act like a mature grown up.
They did exactly what they have control of. He had a seat at all the meetings he chose to attend and when he didn’t attend, his absence was glaring, as it was meant to be. Macron was gracious and had a private lunch with him to try and get him to come to some sense of decorum, I’m sure.
The best thing was a press conference that showed the world and American voters what a liar he is. Maybe that will be the influence on the electorate that could start to tip the balance.
4
@Jackson Curtis
"We have seen a number of instances in history, where insane, evil men went unchecked. Were treated as simply "political" figures on the world stage, and so were enabled. Were appeased. Until it was too late. "
I'd been thinking of Hitler and Neville Chamberlain's failed attempt to appease Hitler when I read your comment.
Winston Churchill was alone in recognizing Hitler for the threat that he posed. Churchill was disparaged by his superiors, and by others, until it was too late.
4
"Group of 7, Minus Trump"?
Probably the best result of the events.
25
A national embarrassment is Deranged Donald (DD), who sticks out like a sore thumb among the six other great liberal democratic leaders.
Due to his constant mendacity, those leaders can only take what he says with a grain of salt, and are wondering how a nation could elect someone like him to be its leader.
So sad, but there's light at the end of the tunnel, with the emergence of GOP challengers to DD.
20
l look forward the Doral G-8 meeting because it will come during the 2020 Election Year and most Americans will have a sense that this regime is nearing its end.
20
@james jordan August in Miami would be great weather. If a hurricane should head in that direction, he could try out his idea of nuking it. The members who attend can agree to do so if all the money spent goes to help the Amazon rain forest recover and some can help the nearby Everglades which is also on fire.
1
Imagine. Walking on egg shells around the man-child.
34
Bullies keep bullying unless people stand up to him/her. For the sake of the planet and maintaining liberal democracies around the world, this might have been a good opportunity to set Trump straight and inform him that the rest of the industrialized world refuses to be bullied by him any longer.
The only way to stop bad behavior is to correct it. Most of us learned that on the grade school playground.
46
They are not tiptoeing. They are pandering. The fact that Trump insists that everyone grovel before him is appalling. The fact that all these leaders are willing to do it may even be worse.
27
@Barbara8101
Barbara, There is a difference between pandering and diplomacy. These people are diplomats and the United States has, until now, sent our diplomats to these meetings. Our state department has been decimated by the Trump regime, but the rest of the world treats the foolish Trump with some respect, not for himself, but in honor of the country we have been, and will be again. The rest of the world knows that; we just have to do what is necessary to get our rightful place in the world back.
2
@Barbara8101 The other 6 leaders were there to get something done - a united front on global issues. Why provoke angry Grandpa whose childish tantrums would suck up all the press oxygen? At least we have an idea of what actually happened, without the distractions of childish temper tweets and walk-outs. Not pandering, more like dealing with what you have, now what you wish for.
2
It´s true that there´s no point in trying to change Caliban´s mind. He does that on his own day and night with no time off for holidays. However, Macron´s observation that "you can´t rewrite the past" is quite off the mark, because there is very little else that you can do with the past.
3
The G 7 (minus 1) are doing what they can to slow down Trump's undermining the world's economy (China trade talks) and/or blowing up the world (Iranian President Hassan Rouhani).
11
Why play right into Trump's hands with labels like irascible and unpredictable, which he wears like badges of honor? Terms like infantile and incompetent are closer to the mark. Thankfully there are intelligent adults remaining at the G7 table that don't need to bluster and boast like Trump to cover a deep-set insecurity.
61
This group contained six sane, concerned world leaders and one Trump. I wish they had the courage to pretend Trump was a competent adult and speak to him as such, then step over him while he had his flailing tantrum.
I guess they were afraid he really would nuke Denmark.
15
Actually, too bad Boris wasn't belligerent. It would be kind of fun to see Trump and Boris get into a shoving match that turns into a fistfight. It would give us and the Brits both - two very weary and anxious nations - a little comic relief.
18
Let's face it, it is now the G6. They are doing the appropriate thing and the one thing he hates the most. They are ignoring him and making real decisions without him. We should expect another tweet storm directly.
41
This was no accident, Trump wasn't invited. In fact, whenever a question was directed to the empty suit, I mean chair, the entire group laughed so hard Merkel fell out of her chair.
18
It would be great comedy, if it were not really the tragedy that it is: leaders of the greatest countries in the industrialized world trying to keep the train on the rails, all while having to humor the head of another formerly great country, trying to keep him from committing even more serious damage, like desperate grownups locked in a room with a heavily armed adolescent.
Once the US had to suffer through a “long national nightmare” wrought by a criminal president; now the world faces a global nightmare wrought by an autocratic, corrupt American President.
When, oh when will we rid ourselves of this specter?
14
The G6 + 1 kept the ‘play’ in playground. They understand why bullies act the way they do and have figured out how to resolve problems with bullies in a safe way. Here are a few of their tools and strategies that anyone can use:
1. Stand your ground. Bullies bully others to get a reaction, so be brave. Many bullies back down at the first sign of resistance, so this can be highly effective.
2. Ignore the bully. Similar to number one, bullies are always seeking attention from others. If the bully’s actions and words don’t affect you, it ruins it for them. Keep your ego in check and let it all roll over you.
3. Brainstorm and problem-solve with the bully where possible, knowing that some situations will call for you to be assertive and others to walk away.
4. Play in a group. Bullies choose victims who reinforce their sense of power or they isolate their victims, so playing with the rest of a group makes it less likely for the bully to approach you.
5. Ignore the bully and make new friends. It’s not uncommon for a bully to have once been your friend. If you notice the bully putting you down verbally, make new friends and show him that real friends don’t treat others this way.
6
The worst day of Trump’s life will be the one when nobody pays him any attention. When the press just turns away and ignores the rants, the hollow speeches, the hyperboles, the torrent of verbiage that flows daily from his awful mouth. Of course that will not happen while he is President of the United States, but it will shortly after, and he will be brought low by that. Maybe even he will go to jail.
16
@YesIKnowtheMuffinMan
Evidence in the eventual Trump trials is the only reporting I'm interested in seeing/reading in the media. In other words, substantial proof that will send the Liar in Chief to jail, for longer than a term... or two.
Trump in the north Bolsonaro in the south, one mirror of the other, destroying democracy in their respective countries, although Brazilians increasingly disapprove of their management, but what about the people of the United States? I used to respect their democracy and envied it for my country, the Trump administration slapped me that woke me to reality. I do not want for me nation what is happening in this, I am sorry for the opposition to Trump because I know that they are passing the darkest time since the Civil War ... RESIST!
7
He seems to be getting worse and worse.
18
"The leaders of the major economies tiptoed around the irascible and unpredictable American president."
Instead of "irascible and unpredictable" try "unstable, unhinged, untethered, ignorant, ill-intentioned." Instead of "president" try "autocratic demagogue." "Tiptoeing around" means, I suppose, not saying, for instance, that Trump lied when he made the unlikely assertion that the world leaders asked him why the American media hates America so much, and wants it to fail. Finally, calling Trump a "world leader" may be written off as nostalgia associated with others who have held the same office and lived in the people's house, e.g., President Obama.
19
The top photo that shows the empty chair just elicited a severe pang of embarrassment in me.
I'm really tired of being embarrassed by trump.
I intend to work very hard this coming election for his opponent's campaign, whoever they may be.
48
I would bet my last dollar that if Obama were at this moment POTUS, he would have already set up a task force along with his allies--in particular NATO--that would be heading asap to the Amazon rain forest. Trump has no shame, only cares about lining his pockets, is still beholden to Putin--for whatever reason--AND obviously could not care one iota about the futures of his grandchildren. I feel like I am living in an alternate universe. Please people--wake up.
42
A leaderless world just when a leader is needed most. Sad.
10
Let’s look at Doral: close to the airport? Why, yes. It’s so close, it’s under flight paths. Great for golfing with earplugs. The other side of the project is near an aromatic garbage dump. The lobby of his Doral resort hosted a shooting a year ago. And...let’s not forget the delightful Miami summer weather. (Notice he goes to NJ until winter). Yes, the perfect way to showcase this president’s real talents...profitless commercial real estate.
40
I tired , very very tired, not from winning.
Everyday reading and listening to this president.
He wear me down.... literally.
20
- on the other hand if America would have treated Trump the way the Group of 6 do - would he ever become President?
7
Trump wants to host the G8 next year at his joint in Miami. Well, host may not be the appropriate word since he would be billing all attendees. He should have his own G3 with Kim and Putin. They would no doubt stiff him but he'd be grateful for the attention and flattery. The G6 can proceed elsewhere/anywhere.
4+ years of Trump = RIP for USA
12
Trump, the Fake President fictitiously representing the interests of America, clearly revealed at the Biarritz Summit where his “governing” priorities lie when he chose not to attend the important session there on the environment, which included the pivotal topic of climate change, yet unhesitatingly later made his smarmy huckster’s pitch to locate next year’s meeting at his private Doral Country Club facility in Florida. So, we have a siting President publicly encouraging our closest allies to join with him in a conspiracy to violate the Constitution of the United States and also a host of federal ethical prohibitions for the singular purpose of further enriching himself. Perhaps that is also the reason why he is pushing to invite Putin to next year’s Summit at his club. To show off to Vladimir all of the Doral’s exclusive amenities in an attempt to keep the Moscow Trump dream project alive for the future.
10
They just treated him like the baby balloon which sometimes shows up at protest against Trump.
8
The only thing that's changed with this Group of 7 Meeting is the collective awareness of the world leaders that Donald Trump is not one of them.
26
Dear World: The majority of Americans who didn't vote for this embarrassing fool are working hard to ensure it doesn't happen again. Please carry on with important world issues like climate change, economic justice, and human rights, while we tend to our democracy and fix a few things. We can also use your help in disrupting Putin's cyber apparatus. We have the capability but obviously the wrong man to give the order.
55
Does Doral's dining room have a kids' table?
21
The peacock displayed his true feathers. He pitched his Doral golf resort for next years summit location, everything else was beyond his ability to deal, literally and figuratively.
19
They were very astute in knowing not to wake the baby.
Or is it let sleeping dogs "lie"?
10
@Stephen Csiszar: More like "let lying dog lie."
1
Trumpsters think this is a good thing. Why would the US want to be a leader? We can be the loser Trumpster country, pretending that our economy is the best, that taxing imports is positive, and that climate change is a hoax.
6
@toomuchrhetoric
Since Trump's hardcore base really are BASE, they have no idea what a successful leader/country looks like.
They choose mediocrity, as it is all they know.
"... Mr. Trump may soon have a direct meeting with Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani ..."
Given how Putin and Kim Jong-un have played Trump, why in the world wouldn't Rouhani jump at the chance to meet with him?
5
Embarrassing and predictable, remove him from office in 2020. If we can do it sooner, go. But, Moscow Mitch will be blocking every exit for our democracy.
21
That empty chair may be Donald Trump's downfall. We're guaranteed to see this image over and over as the campaign heats up
18
I don't exactly know what the conversations are like at meetings like G7 are like, but my guess is most of the world leaders are smart, well educated people who discuss important issues using correct technical terminology while speaking in complete sentences. That must make Fake45 feel like the biggest dope in the room, as he realizes he has nothing meaningful to add. He might as well not be there at all. His low stamina and aged body probably make it very difficult for him to stay focused for more than a few minutes. I almost feel sorry for him and his embarrassing, undignified plight.
20
The photo says it all: When there's conflict, Trump's missing in action.
9
Trump would like to hold the next G7 Summit in Miami at his Doral Club. Wonderful idea - never mind the fact that August is prime hurricane season in Florida, but not to worry, if one threatens he'll nuke it away. Please, please, vote democratic no matter who wins the primary. Anyone would be better than this joke of a president.
20
@4merNYer
There should be 6 empty chairs at that one. Poetic justice!
2
So, Trump skipped the meeting on climate control - to do something about the fires on the Amazon. Modi was there and what did he offer? And China who was not there but has kept silent on this issue. You can continue to flagellate Trump but until India, China, Indonesia and Russia start doing something serious about climate change whatever the US might do would be just window dressing to keep the progressive crowd - and the New York Times - happy.
Please write something about it when that happens.
1
God, I'll be glad when this mess of a presidency is over.
38
“The question I was asked most today by fellow World Leaders, who think the USA is doing so well and is stronger than ever before, happens to be, ‘Mr. President, why does the American media hate your Country so much? Why are they rooting for it to fail?’”
Does Trump really expect the people of the world to believe this claptrap -- that a chorus of fawning "World Leaders" wrung their hands over his unjust mistreatment by a traitorous press?
Of course this is a sandwich of lies, a whining, prissily-worded fantasy spun by an emotionally damaged man with who has lied so often for so long about so many things that he is no longer connected to reality and likely cannot separate his delusions from reality.
For all his bluster and bragging, measured by traditional long-term standards of presidential achievement for the broadest public benefit, he is failing.
17
European leaders are described as "tiptoeing" around Trump when he is present, and "relieved" when he is absent.
That generically describes the behavior of a person who has succumbed to a bully.
5
On the so-called "free world" front the G7 meeting officially inaugurated the Post-Trump Era. There is now unanimous agreement among America's allies that Trump should be simply ignored whenever possible. Be polite and gracious. Gently massage his ego. Say nothing to unduly agitate him. Try to avoid contentious topics in his presence. Our allies have come to accept that little of consequence will get done between now and 2021, the emphasis presently being on reducing the opportunities for Trump to do further harm.
China and Russia of course are competitors, not allies. So the critical question becomes the extent to which they will view the hapless Trump as an opportunity to pursue their agendas at America's expense.
Xi's stance will be intriguing to watch. He is in a position to either make or break Trump. If he offers a trade settlement at acceptable terms and which stabilizes the world economy, Trump will trumpet it as a great victory, enhancing his chances of electoral victory in 2020. Conversely, Xi could stand firm, watch the US economy slide toward recession, and likely assure Trump's political demise.
Putin presumably is firmly committed to Trump's cause. Xi and Putin have recently become more friendly. But will Xi favor a second Trump term if he deems Putin's position with the president to be the stronger? Xi might well prefer dealing with a new president unless he receives a highly favorable trade settlement. Xi can thus be expected to patiently squeeze Trump.
10
Note to Dem prexy candidates: Talk more about how you would approach world affairs, where the President has considerable autonomy (de facto, if not de Constitutional), and talk/promise less about domestic windmills that you won’t really be able to get through Congress. There is so much fodder here for talking about how to improve on our current situation.
7
It seems to me that the purpose of the G7 is to clean up the mess that Trump has made in the world: Iran, North Korea, the Climate, and Trade, to name a few. Since he never accepts responsibility for his mistakes and hasn't shown one ounce of introspection throughout his presidency, one could legitimately question why Trump is even invited.
50
or in other words - the G6 might have found the most effective way to deal with Trump as finally - at least in European reports about the meeting he was more than less ignored.
32
"Yet Mr. Trump’s decision to skip the meeting on the environment was treated as normal."
It was not normal, but expected. After all climate was just a "niche" meeting, a boutique issue, in which he has no interest since it goes against his full speed ahead approach to promoting the fossil fuel industry.
42
Look, if we can get through this term alive, we should call it an "achievement". After the defiler's election, I wrote "keep my basic civil rights intact and don't start a nuclear war and he's succeeded." I still believe that. We can expect nothing good from him and we've gotten none. We have, alas, suffered many - no, countless hits to our country's health and benefit BUT my BASIC civil rights are still intact (albeit constantly on patrol) and no nuclear war thus far. So we're suffering as we deserve to after having elected him, and hopefully we'll make it until he's thrown out. Everyone, moreover, knows that he's a weak bully so on the international stage other leaders simply ignore him. Or stroke his ego a bit and THEN ignore him. These are lost years for the country and the world, folks, and THAT is the real tragedy here. BUT life has continued to go on, heaven help us.
92
@ManhattanWilliam
Get ready for four more years. Trump's backing, and opposition to the Democrat platform, is even stronger in most of the states that elected him in 2016.
7
@ Raz-
Not so fast. Let the majority speak first.
16
@Patrick Sewall I couldn't agree more. Perhaps it is wishful thinking on my part, but anti-Trump people are beginning to "come out of the woodwork."
7
Why does anyone take Donald Trump seriously and report on his daily temper tantrums?
It is because he is the President of the United States, a country that has been a beacon of hope for millions.
I know, I can't believe it either.
211
@Donna Kraydo
Who said this was a temper tantrum? He just didn't go to the meeting.
3
@Raz: A meeting about climate change, one of the most, if not the most, issues facing the world.
4
@Raz
SO!! What would YOU call this then?
3
Brazil needs to end illegal logging and burning to create cattle ranching lands.
Putting out the fires is an important first step, but until and unless Brazil takes its international responsibilities seriously the Amazon and the planet will remain threatened.
If these supportive efforts are unsuccessful the next step should be to declare burning the Amazon to be a crime against humanity subjecting Brazil to severe international sanctions.
55
@Drspock
Cattle ranching requires getting rid of the triple canopy to allow for grassland. That is how cattle graze. It would totally destroy the Amazon.
9
@Drspock I expect Brazil's honeymoon period w/ Bolsanaro will end badly -and hopefully soon. Perhaps we in the US will be shown an example of how a great democracy corrects its own stupid errors in judgement.
2
@John O'Brien. Drspock would seem to agree with you...
Only close to fourteen more months and we can retake this ghost ship of a democracy and begin to reclaim our place among our allies and the adults who guide global issues.
281
@steveconn, we can "begin to reclaim our place among our allies," or at least try, but it may take a very long time to piece together the trust and goodwill that existed previously. The United States has been thoroughly humiliated before the world and future generations.
151
@John Bush was none too popular but Obama turned that around in a flash.
18
@John
Nonsense.
Our reputation in the world has been declining for decades, ever since we changed from a tactic of helping countries develop, to one of forcing them to conform (through economic sanctions, etc.).
16
It sounds like world leaders have recognized what a large segment of the US population hasn't, that our current, unfit president has no skills in governance or statesmanship, understands nothing about subjects with any complexity such as healthcare, economics or climate science, and has the emotional maturity and stability of a spoiled four-year-old. They're treating him like the child he is. If it weren't for the fading power that remains to our country, I doubt they'd give him the time of day.
At least in trying to sell his property as the next meeting site he's actually doing one of the few things he knows how to do, even if he's not particularly good at it.
237
As outrageous as the suggestion sounds of using his Doral country club for the next G7 meeting, I nevertheless could concur with it under the condition that he releases his 2016-19 tax returns to verify his questionable claim that he has lost a billion or so while serving as president.
156
@Rudy Ludeke If Trump tries to have the G-7 at his private resort, with his patron Putin at his side, the other countries in the G-7 should suddenly develop "scheduling conflicts" and not attend.
15
At next year's summit, leaders will be looking to the end of Donald Trump's tenure as President several months away. In the environment of trying to keep his job,it will be interesting if Trump's behavior, as host after all, might be somewhat different. It's unlikely, but at that point he will be calibrating his behavior in that forum on the basis of how he can retain his job.
26
@richardb62
The assumption that trump can *calibrate* his behavior is ludicrous.
8
@richardb62 I am at the point that I hope he doesn't change, however temporarily!!! (And I dont' think he is capable of it anyway- for any period of time).
2
@richardb62
Dream on, he'll quadruple down on the shock show.
2
"Yet Mr. Trump’s decision to skip the meeting on the environment was treated as normal."
I suspect it was not necessarily normal, but more accurately beneficial. Trump has nothing constructive to add to any conversation about climate/the environment (or anything scientific or evidence-based, for that matter), and his absence allowed the other engaged parties to get down to business without the distraction that is Trump.
Trump's abnormal appetite for attention means that anytime he's present, he'll do something detrimental to hog the spotlight if that's the only way he can get it. Seriously, better if he stays away. In fact, I wish he'd sit out the rest of his presidency.
504
@D Price Trump also said that he likes clean air and clean water--a very low bar. It also underscores that he has no idea whatsoever of the difference between local weather patterns and global climate disruption.
So pathetic, this is intolerable.
6
@D Price AMEN to that!!
5
@D Price
He has been pretty much sitting out his presidency. Unless you consider golfing, rallies, tweeting, and watching for news about himself on “his shows.”
The governing and policy making is being done behind the scenes by people like Stephen Miller, Pompeo, and other shadow figures. trump just signs off on it.
1
Say what you will about Trump, but at least he had the wherewithall to leave the room while the adults constructively worked in peace.
465
@David Yes, but unfortunately the baby man is president of the U.S.
4
@David
Alas, most of us can not say what we will about President Amoral in a family newspaper.
4
@David
I doubt that was a consideration.
It’s the meeting of G - 7 heads right. What purpose does it serve if Trump is not present for crucial meeting where decisions are taken ?
22
@Sivaram Pochiraju, I think Trump's absence from the climate meeting enabled leaders to get things done. At least the G-6 was able to reach an agreement about aid to Brazil. What would Trump have contributed?
15
@Sivaram Pochiraju
Well, I suspect that those meetings without Trump are a lot more productive than they’d be with a disruptive man who is also far out of his depths.
17