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German newspaper Der Speigel got a chance to see what happened behind closed doors at the recent G7 summit. What the record of those meetings revealed was leader after leader attempting to reach Donald Trump—through logic, through common sense, through dollars and cents. All of them took a turn at trying to break through to a man whose mind was walled in by ignorance.
Strike one ...
The newly elected French president, Emmanuel Macron, went first. ... "Climate change is real and it affects the poorest countries," Macron said.
Strike two …
Then, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reminded the U.S. president how successful the fight against the ozone hole had been and how it had been possible to convince industry leaders to reduce emissions of the harmful gas.
And, with the final pitch ...
Finally, it was Merkel's turn. Renewable energies, said the chancellor, present significant economic opportunities. "If the world's largest economic power were to pull out, the field would be left to the Chinese.”
Trump was not only unmoved, his Rose Garden break with the rest of the world was seen as overtly hostile.
… none of the G-7 heads of state and government expected the primitive brutality Trump would stoop to when announcing his withdrawal from the international community. Surrounded by sycophants in the Rose Garden at the White House, he didn't just proclaim his withdrawal from the climate agreement, he sowed the seeds of international conflict. His speech was a break from centuries of Enlightenment and rationality. The president presented his political statement as a nationalist manifesto of the most imbecilic variety. It couldn't have been any worse.
For the other members of the G7, Trump’s refusal to listen was not just the failure of an issue, but the end of the American century.
At that point, it was clear to the rest of those seated around the table that they had lost him. Resigned, Macron admitted defeat. "Now China leads," he said.
His speech was packed with make-believe numbers from controversial or disproven studies. It was hypocritical and dishonest. … It's no wonder that the other countries applauded when Washington signed the Paris Agreement, he said. "We don't want other leaders and other countries laughing at us anymore. And they won't be. They won't be." ...
The effects on the geopolitical climate are likely to be just as catastrophic. Trump's speech provided only the most recent proof that discord between the U.S. and Europe is deeper now than at any time since the end of World War II.
Donald Trump’s exit from the Paris agreement was the crowning achievement for the America First movement which, as always, is determined to put America last.
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