This week, President Joe Biden joined world leaders at the annual G7 summit. It's one of the most consequential summits in recent history as the world continues to navigate a way out of the pandemic that's killed over 600 thousand Americans and nearly four million people around the globe.
It's also the first G7 summit since former President Donald Trump left office.
America's global standing took a hit under Trump's leadership. World leaders openly laughed at him. He excoriated allies while heaping praise upon adversaries. Trump withdrew from the World Health Organization and falsely berated the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
At his first G7 conference, Trump upended days of talks by refusing to sign a joint statement of economic goals proposed by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Biden's reception has been quite different. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a former Trump ally, described Biden's presence as a "breath of fresh air."
Trump's critics noticed the contrast as well in a side by side video of Trump with leaders at a NATO conference and Biden hobnobbing with world leaders at the G7 conference.
Watch below.
2017 G7 vs. 2021 G7pic.twitter.com/JG9ZuBi3ya— The Recount (@The Recount) 1623421914
Sorry, that 2017 video of Trump pushing aside a world leader to hog the spotlight is from the NATO summit, not the G7. We regret the error
— The Recount (@therecount) June 11, 2021
The video shows Trump pushing his way past officials to be front and center. Meanwhile, the other video shows Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron walking arm in arm with other world leaders by their side.
The difference was palpable.
Ass vs classhttps://twitter.com/therecount/status/1403359341483331586\u00a0\u2026— kristen johnston (@kristen johnston) 1623435409
This says it all.https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1403359341483331586\u00a0\u2026— Joy-Ann (Pro-Democracy) Reid \ud83d\ude37 (@Joy-Ann (Pro-Democracy) Reid \ud83d\ude37) 1623429014
What a difference.https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1403359341483331586\u00a0\u2026— MeidasTouch.com (@MeidasTouch.com) 1623424515
No words needed.https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1403359341483331586\u00a0\u2026— WomenForBidenHarris (@WomenForBidenHarris) 1623432163
Night and Day. Literally.https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1403359341483331586\u00a0\u2026— JGoodman (@JGoodman) 1623429249
What a difference a year makes\u2026https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1403359341483331586\u00a0\u2026— Jamie Schler (@Jamie Schler) 1623435845
Some said it was a perfect representation of the difference in Trump's and Biden's leadership styles.
Idiot vs. Presidentialhttps://twitter.com/therecount/status/1403359341483331586\u00a0\u2026— Holly \ud83c\udf37\ud83c\udf3f #Vaccinated (@Holly \ud83c\udf37\ud83c\udf3f #Vaccinated) 1623435884
Hard power is push, soft power is pull...https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1403359341483331586\u00a0\u2026— Esteban Actis (@Esteban Actis) 1623427029
It\u2019s amazing what a difference it can make when we DO NOT have a racist, bigoted, misogynistic, narcissistic douche bag for President.pic.twitter.com/hxlR6yr77I— Naofumi Iwatana (@Naofumi Iwatana) 1623425168
After the summit, Biden will meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin—a meeting that will likely be much more tense.
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