Deranged Don at the G7

Trump’s attempt to create a sort of alternative version of the summit came as other world leaders, in public statements, described the global dynamic as being in a state of crisis.

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He presented a different version of private talks than virtually every one else attending. And those differences spilled into public view multiple times at the summit.

  WaPo

Of course he did. He has a total disregard for reality.

Trump claimed to have not discussed a joint approach to Iran, even though French officials insisted an agreement had been reached between each of the leaders Saturday night. “I haven’t discussed that,” Trump said. “We will do our own outreach, but I can’t stop people from talking. If they want to talk, they can talk.”

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He quipped to reporters that North Korea hadn’t violated any rules by launching missiles, only to be quickly corrected by Japanese leader Shinzo Abe.

“We’re in the world of missiles, folks, whether you like it or not,” Trump said, adding that he understands how Abe “feels that way.”

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He suggested that multiple foreign leaders had told him they agreed that Russia should be readmitted to the G-7, though Europeans have been adamant that Russia should remain ostracized and argued with Trump about it at dinner Saturday. Trump declined to specify who had agreed with him. “I could, but I don’t believe that’s necessary,” he said.

Not necessary at all, because we know that no one agreed with him.

Still, his tactics with China appear to be shifting. On Friday, Trump had said that “I hereby order” U.S. companies to prepare to stop doing business with China, a shocking statement that drew rebuke from U.S. firms. When pressed on whether he actually had the power to make such a directive, Trump cited a 1977 law that — during an emergency — gives the president broad latitude to intervene.

What's the emergency? He's going even further down in the polls.

In a reversal, Trump said Sunday that he had no plans to invoke this law, making it appear that he is also backing down from his push for companies to withdraw from China.

“I have no plans right now,” Trump said. “Actually, we’re getting along very well with China right now.”

That was quick.

“Deeply misguided policy and strategy has been joined for some time by dubious negotiating tactics, with promises not kept and threats not carried out on a regular basis,” [Former treasury secretary Lawrence] Summers said in an interview. “We are at a new stage now with very erratic presidential behavior and frequent denials of obvious reality. I know of no U.S. historical precedent.”

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[Trump] told reporters Sunday morning that so far no foreign leader had challenged him on his approach. Seconds later, Johnson did.

“Just to register the faint, sheeplike note of our view on the trade war,” the British prime minister said, “we’re in favor of trade peace on the whole … We think that, on the whole, the U.K. has profited massively in the last 200 years from free trade.”

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Britain has long been a free-trade superpower, and British diplomats complain as bitterly as their French and German peers about Trump’s tactics on China.

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It was a rare moment of a foreign leader challenging Trump’s tactics while sitting across the table from the U.S. president, delivered in the gentlest of forms.

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Other world leaders, including European Council President Donald Tusk, have repeatedly urged a de-escalation of the trade tiffs.

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Later in the day Trump sought to highlight a positive development on trade, holding an unscheduled appearance with Abe to announce that the United States and Japan reached an agreement in principle on a trade deal covering agriculture, technology and other issues. No details were provided.

But here's his tweet...

Over dinner, Trump spent some time bashing former president Barack Obama about the decision to kick out Russia, repeating his public statements that Putin had been kicked out only because he outsmarted Obama, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting.

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At their first joint meeting — a dinner of regional Basque specialties — G-7 leaders had “constructive discussions” about Amazonian deforestation and Iran, according to a senior European official. But the conversation turned “rough and tumble” when Trump interrupted the Iran discussion to tell fellow leaders that it didn’t make sense to have the conversation without Russia at the table, a second European official said.

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The Europeans said they believe the G-7 should give big liberal democracies a chance to talk to one another.

“That’s clearly not a very important point to him,” one of the officials said. “He doesn’t share that view. His argument was that on a number of these issues — Iran, Syria, North Korea — it only makes sense to have a discussion with President Putin.”

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Aides say Trump was hoping to refocus discussions on the economy and could even skip some of the sessions Macron has planned.

Unbelievable.

Just in the past week, Trump has swung dramatically in his approach to the economy, saying he is contemplating tax cuts, then saying tax cuts aren’t needed, and then on Saturday saying he planned to pursue tax cuts in 2021.

Impeach this inept, corrupt, and mentally deranged asshole.