Trump has left the world stage, few will miss him

[uk666]

Trump has left the world stage, few will miss him

As stage exits go Donald Trump's departure was something of a whimper, the US President leaving the top table of global G20 leaders to play golf.

Trump has been out of kilter with the global mood since he first took office preaching his "America first, fair, not free trade" brand of nationalist isolationist.

Now, as his time in office draws to a close, despite his refusal to publicly accept the reality of the US election results, the combined unspoken message from the world's leaders is: don't let the door hit you on the way out.

The virtual summit for leaders of the world's richest nations is being hosted by Saudi Arabia. Its stated aim is to pull countries together to combat Covid-19, accelerate testing, treatment and vaccines for all, while helping poor nations cope with the pandemic's economic impact.

Evidence of the shifting attitude toward the outgoing US administration came from the lips of Saudi's Minister of Investment, Khalid al-Falih. "When the world needed leadership [to combat Covid-19] there was none," he said. The G20 had stepped up because some nations "turned inwards towards nationalism."

According to a tally kept by CNN, Trump has visited one of his golf clubs on 303 occasions during his four years as president. During his 2016 campaign for the White House Trump regularly attacked his predecessor Barack Obama for hitting the links too often and insisted that he would have little time to play golf himself as president as he would be working too hard.

Since Joe Biden was declared the winner of the election 7 November, leaders from around the world have congratulated Biden, including Macron; the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson; and the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, acknowledging his victory even while the leaders of Russia, Brazil and Mexico has refused to.

On Friday, China finally issued a terse congratulations, which stood in stark contrast to the fulsome message sent four years earlier, a day after President Donald Trump’s victory.