Aussie Journalist Chris Uhlmann: "America's President Has No Desire And No Capacity To Lead the World"

G-20 leaders posed in Hamburg, Germany, on Friday. President Emmanuel Macron of France was with President Trump at left. Credit: Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

Donald Trump delights in being the contrarian isolationist, pulling America out of the international scene with his right-wing, America First mentality. Millions of Americans are worried sick about the practical implications of his attitude and policies that America is the world's top dog and we no longer need to play nice in the community of nations. 

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, the host of the G-20 meeting in Hamburg, opened it by acknowledging the differences between the United States and the rest of the countries. While “compromise can only be found if we accommodate each other’s views,” she said, “we can also say, we differ.”

Ms. Merkel also pointed out that most of the countries supported the Paris accord on climate change, while Mr. Trump has abandoned it. “It will be very interesting to see how we formulate the communiqué tomorrow and make clear that, of course, there are different opinions in this area because the United States of America regrettably” wants to withdraw from the pact, she said.

Merkel made it clear throughout the talks that the US would not be negotiating a new climate treaty. Instead, we would stand isolated, as Trump did in the G-20 photo where American presidents have always been in the center. The press increasingly refers to Angela Merkel as the leader of the free world, a position that no longer belongs to America.

As American Democrats and many Republicans struggled for just the right words to sum up Trump's total loss of interest in and position of respect in the new world order created by his presidency, it was Australian journalist Chris Uhlmann who described Trump as an "uneasy, lonely, awkward figure" at the meeting before going even further, saying that America's president has no desire and no capacity to lead the world."