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Australian journalist Chris Uhlmann stands by 'searing assessment' of Donald Trump after video goes viral

One of Australia's most seasoned political journalists has stood by his scathing commentary of Donald Trump's presidency after a video of his remarks unexpectedly went viral. 

"Scathing", "searing" and "brutal" were just a few of the adjectives flying around social media following an eloquent takedown of Donald Trump by ABC political editor Chris Uhlmann.

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Uhlmann: Trump 'uneasy, lonely, awkward' at G20

Scathing, searing and brutal were just a few of the adjectives flying around social media on Sunday following an eloquent takedown of Donald Trump by ABC political editor Chris Uhlmann.

His wrap on the G20 summit delivered from Hamburg to the ABC's Insiders program has since been viewed more than 1.7 million times and has struck a nerve with US commentators and people around the world.

Speaking to Fairfax from Europe on Monday, Uhlmann said he was taken aback by the global interest in his savage analysis in which he described Trump as a man with "no desire and no capacity to lead the world".

But he had no regrets. "Absolutely, I stand by it," Ulhmann said. 

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"I was asked to give a robust assessment of what I observed based on evidence of what I had seen at the summit. To me, the analysis of Trump, is what best encapsulated what I had seen at the G20."

​The veteran journalist criticised the US president's conduct while in office, his awkwardness at the G20 summit and his offhand Twitter tirades.

"He was an uneasy, lonely, awkward figure at this gathering and you got the strong sense that some of the leaders are trying to find the best way to work around him," Uhlmann told the Insiders program. "He has no desire and no capacity to lead the world.

"[He] barks out bile in 140 characters, [and] wastes his precious days as president at war with the West's institutions like the judiciary, independent government agencies and the free press."

Uhlmann also criticised the president's desire to be the centrepiece of conversation, saying that it was the only thing Trump cared about.

"Donald Trump is a man who craves power because it burnishes his celebrity. To be constantly talking and talked about is all that really matters."

Uhlmann said in his journalistic career spanning decades he'd rarely been compelled to give such a brutal analysis of a political leader.

"He (Donald Trump) is the great disrupter," Uhlmann said.

"There is no doubt he has correctly identified an illness at the heart of the Western democracy but the problem is Donald Trump doesn't have any solutions to fix it or any that are likely to work."

Uhlmann, who is renowned to viewers of the ABC for his frank opinions was quick to downplay his newfound social media fame.

Following the airing of his strong statement, Uhlmann's Twitter account began trending in Washington with many Americans praising his words.

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof shared the video with his 2.1 million Facebook followers, describing Uhlmann's words as "powerful".

"It was obviously completely unexpected," Uhlmann said, of his TV report going viral. "To be honest I don't have enormous emotions about it one way or the other ... it's certainly the first time it has happened."​

- with William McInnes