Donald Trump used the passing of former President George H.W. Bush to get out of a G20 summit press conference on Saturday in Argentina.
“I was very much looking forward to having a press conference just prior to leaving Argentina,” the president said in a Twitter post. “However, out of respect for the Bush Family and former President George H.W. Bush we will wait until after the funeral to have a press conference.”
I was very much looking forward to having a press conference just prior to leaving Argentina because we have had such great success in our dealing with various countries and their leaders at the G20….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 1, 2018
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….However, out of respect for the Bush Family and former President George H.W. Bush we will wait until after the funeral to have a press conference.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 1, 2018
A press conference would have given Trump the opportunity to publicly go on camera to pay his respects to the 41st president. Instead, it seems even he recognizes that he couldn’t possibly get through an entire presser without it devolving into a chaotic dumpster fire.
The country saw this unfold most recently in Trump‘s post-midterm press conference when he threw a tantrum and got into a heated brawl with CNN‘s Jim Acosta.
Trump’s G20 summit has been another failure
The other reason Trump likely wanted to dodge a press conference at the G20 summit is that he has nothing to brag about. It was another embarrassment for him on the world stage.
As PoliticusUSA’s Jason Easley pointed out on Friday, Trump is a stooge of brutal world leaders like Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which is why the two men were embracing each other like old buddies during the G20 – they know they own Trump.
CNN‘s Don Lemon also pounced on the president’s kowtowing to murderous regimes, saying on Friday, “The President of the United States, the leader of the free world, the only man who could stand in their way is weak, weak, weak.â€
The cable host said Trump passed on “the perfect opportunity to call them both to account at the G20 face to face.”
Ultimately, we’ve seen enough of Donald Trump to know that he doesn’t make decisions for the good of the country; he makes them for the good of himself.
Dodging a press conference at the G20 has nothing to do with George H.W. Bush‘s death. It has everything to do with Trump not wanting to talk about his failures on the world stage.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
