President Trump arrived to the G7 trade summit late, left early, and held a single press conference where he threatened the other global leaders with a trade war and portrayed the United States of America as a weak global player that has been had by its allies for decades. At a gender equality breakfast, Trump arrived late so the other G7 leaders started without him.
Shortly before the summit began, Trump teased out that he thinks Russian should be allowed back in after it was booted for invading Crimea. At his G7 press conference, he acted as if this transgression didn’t even warrant a mention. “Some people like the idea of bringing Russia back in,” he said. “This used to be the G8, not the G7. And something happened a while ago, where Russia is no longer in. I think it would be an asset to have Russia back in. I think it would be good for the world. I think it would be good for Russia. I think it would be good for the United States. I think it would be good for all of the countries of the current G7.”
Later in the press conference, another journalist reminded Trump that the “something that happened that got them kicked out of the G8 was the invasion and annexation of Crimea” and asked if they should be allowed back into the G8 given that they had invaded and taken over another country. Trump didn’t answer the question, instead, in an incredible bit of moronic jiu-jitsu, pivoted to blaming President Obama:
Well, you know, you have to ask President Obama, because he was the one that let Crimea get away. That was during his administration. And he was the one that let Russia go and spend a lot of money on Crimea, because they’ve spent a lot of money on rebuilding it. I guess they have their submarine port there and such. But Crimea was let go during the Obama administration. And, you know, Obama can say all he wants, but he allowed Russia to take Crimea. I may have had a much different attitude. So you’d really have to ask that question to President Obama — you know, why did he do that; why did he do that. But with that being said, it’s been done a long time.
Trump’s comments about Russia being readmitted to the G8 weren’t serious, however. This was just chaff he threw to ensure that the other leaders would be forced to spend time addressing that rather than Trump’s sanctions against our allies and clear effort to start an international trade war. A trade war of this magnitude between America and its allies is one of Russia’s fondest wishes come true.
During their bilateral meeting, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave Trump a photo of Trump’s father’s Canadian hotel. When Press Secretary Sarah Sanders used it on Twitter to prove how beloved the president is by his international counterparts, she was quickly reminded (informed?) that it was actually a brothel and Trudeau was massively trolling Trump:
It was a brothel. https://t.co/o0v32KmoWX
— Patrick (@TrickFreee) June 9, 2018
Perhaps the most insulting trolling came from German Chancellor Angela Merkel who released this highly meme-able photo with the wry commentary, “Day two of the G7 summit in Canada: spontaneous meeting between two working sessions.”
Once again, the response on Twitter was swift and brutal:
So much has changed in America, and yet so much hasn't pic.twitter.com/x2mthUr4Kc
— Kelvin (@mrchan) June 9, 2018
For the Canadians, a Part of Our Heritage pic.twitter.com/ALfKaMd0s5
— Kelvin (@mrchan) June 9, 2018
“Just tell us what Vladimir has on you. Maybe we can help.” pic.twitter.com/DLc7YJFXqT
— Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) June 10, 2018
During his press conference, Trump went into passive aggressive narcissist mode, congratulating his colleagues for having taken advantage of a hapless, powerless America for so many years. “I don’t blame them; I blame our leaders,” he said. “In fact, I congratulate the leaders of other countries for so crazily being able to make these trade deals that were so good for their country and so bad for the United States. But those days are over.”
Then he came back to it later in the press conference (and got a chance to slam CNN in the process):
CNN: As you were heading into these G7 talks, there was a sense that America’s closest allies were frustrated with you and angry with you, and that you were angry with them and that you were leaving here early to go meet for more friendlier talks with Kim Jong Un in Singapore. And I’m wondering if you —
TRUMP: It’s well put, I think.
CNNP — if you view it the same way. And do you view the U.S. alliance system shifting under your presidency, away —
TRUMP: Who are you with, out of curiosity?
CNN: CNN.
TRUMP: I figured. Fake News CNN. The worst. But I could tell by the question. I had no idea you were CNN. After the question, I was just curious as to who you were with. You were CNN.
I would say that the level of relationship is a 10. We have a great relationship. Angela and Emmanuel and Justin. I would say the relationship is a 10. And I don’t blame them. I blame — as I said, I blame our past leaders for allowing this to happen. There was no reason this should happen. There’s no reason that we should have big trade deficits with virtually every country in the world. I’m going long beyond the G7. There’s no reason for this. It’s the fault of the people that preceded me. And I’m not just saying President Obama. I’m going back a long way. You can go back 50 years, frankly. It just got worse and worse and worse.
Trump is now off to Singapore to meet with Kim Jong-un, leaving the world to ponder an American leader who is alienating his country’s allies while cozying up to Russia and North Korea. It’s just more evidence that Trump believes he will always prevail in chaos and spends enormous amounts of energy creating that chaos. And it’s all so he can avoid being held accountable for using the presidency of the United States of America to enrich himself and his children and their corporate cronies, many of whom now inhabit his administration in senior level positions.
