Australian journalist's elegant Trump takedown

An Australian journalist has used a two-minute cross on the G20 summit to deliver an eloquent and incisive takedown of US President Donald Trump.

Chris Uhlmann, political editor for the Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC), said Mr Trump was leading the decline of the world's most powerful nation.

Mr Uhlmann began his cross from Hamburg by saying Mr Trump has "identified an illness in Western democracies, but he has no cure for it, and he seems intent on exploiting it.

"We've also learned he has no desire and no capacity to rule the world."

ABC Political journalist Chris Ulhman.
ABC Political journalist Chris Ulhman. Photo credit: ABC/Screengrab

Mr Trump was isolated by his decision to withdraw from the Paris Accord, he argued. 

"A deft President would have found an issue around which he could rally most of the leaders, and he had the perfect one - North Korea's missile tests. 

"So where was the G20 statement condemning North Korea, which would have put pressure on China and Russia? Other leaders expected it. They were prepared to back it, but it never came."

Mr Uhlmann went on to say Mr Trump's scripted speeches are not the thoughts of the man himself. He said the "bile" on Mr Trump's Twitter is what's real; that he wastes his days as President attacking independent government agencies and the media.

At the G20 gathering, a lonely Mr Trump was "uneasy" and "awkward," Mr Uhlmann
said.

"He managed to isolate his nation, to confuse and alienate his allies and to diminish America. He will cede that power to China and Russia - two authoritarian states that will forge a very different set of rules for the 21st century."

US President Donald Trump at the G20.
US President Donald Trump at the G20. Photo credit: Getty

Mr Uhlmann saved his most vicious takedown for last, and it was all the more powerful - and chilling - for its elegance and restraint.

"Some will cheer the decline of America, but I think some will miss it when it's gone, and that's the threat to the values of West which he claims to hold so dear."

Newshub.