“We will show massive and unprecedented fraud!”
“Big Rallies all over the Country. The proof pouring in is undeniable. Many more votes than needed. This was a LANDSLIDE!”
– Donald Trump tweets on November 19
President Donald Trump participated in his final Group of 20 summit on Saturday by tweeting throughout the opening session and skipping a special side-conference focused on the coronavirus pandemic. Yes, “skipping.” He was busy tweeting and golfing.
It was a fitting end to Trump's career in global multilateralism, which he has expressed his displeasure for since his first group summit -- a G7 meeting held cliffside in Sicily -- resulted in the feeling he was being ganged up upon by other world leaders.
Note: The Group of Twenty, or the G20, is the premier forum for international economic cooperation. The G20 brings together the leaders of both developed and developing countries from every continent.
Collectively, G20 members represent around 80% of the world’s economic output, two-thirds of global population and three-quarters of international trade. Throughout the year, representatives from G20 countries gather to discuss financial and socioeconomic issues.
As of 2020 there are 20 members of the group: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
When the event began, Trump was among the nearly two-dozen world leaders who appeared via video-conference, beaming in from the White House situation room. But, by 10 a.m., Trump had departed the White House on his way to his namesake golf club outside Washington, DC – his 303rd visit to a golf course since he took office.
Trump did not participate when the "side event on Pandemic Preparedness" got underway, featuring remarks from French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and several other world leaders.
Trump's actions were in stark contrast to comments from other leaders, which focused on the pandemic. One source said: “His was the anomalous speech. Everyone else talked about global matters of life and death.”
(John Follain, Arne Delfs and Ilya Arkhipov. “Trump tweets about voter 'fraud' during G20 opening meeting.” The Sydney Morning Herald. November 21, 2020.)
Most national leaders cited the World Health Organization and ACT Accelerator, which aims to speed up treatment and vaccines for Covid-19 and ensure equitable global distribution, a source said. A number also reflected on how countries had failed to help each other during crisis moments of the pandemic.
Trump, who pulled the US out of the WHO, did not mention either organization, but said America would ensure “domestic needs are met” before working on vaccines for the rest of the world.
And, unlike other leaders, Trump did not speak of the need to share vaccines around the world, especially with poorer nations. He also urged fellow leaders to reject lockdown measures as a tool to control the virus, one official said.
As leaders of the world’s richest countries pushed for equality in the race to vaccinate people against the coronavirus, President Donald Trump stayed quiet on sharing U.S.-made vaccines with other nations. He used the Group of 20 summit merely for self-publicity without saying anything about the global situation. Why?
The answer is evident in his actions – Trump is obsessed to leverage the power of the Oval Office in an extraordinary attempt to block President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. His administration abandoned its public coronavirus task force briefings months ago and he tried to win reelection by advancing the falsehood that the US was "rounding the corner."
Trump is presently blocking any meaningful exchange of coronavirus information. He is even refusing to sign off on a key document needed to formally begin the transition process while he continues to baselessly claim election fraud and refuses to concede the race.
Meanwhile the pandemic rages and most world leaders are fighting its deadly spread. COVID-19 is a global concern of utmost importance. And, meanwhile, the U.S. leads the countries of the world in total cases, total deaths, plus cases and deaths in the last two weeks. That is the grim reality, no matter how it is ignored by the president of the United States.
(Pablo Gutiérrez and Seán Clarke Covid world map: which countries have the most coronavirus cases and deaths?” The Guardian. Johns Hopkins University. November 21, 2020.)
No comments:
Post a Comment