Viral Trump G7 photo receives the meme treatment
A photograph of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders standing around a seated US President Donald Trump at the G7 summit in Quebec has become the latest social media meme, with Twitter users comparing it to everything from a restaging of classic paintings to a scene from cartoon series The Simpsons.
The picture features Trump sitting, arms folded, while Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron lean in toward him, with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wearing a weary expression.
It was released at the close of the summit, which ended with Trump refusing to put his name to the joint communique agreed by the other leaders, saying his decision was based on "false statements" by conference host, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
One Twitter user, @NumbersMuncher, compared the image to an episode of The Simpsons, where character Homer Simpson exhausts and exasperates police as he fails to understand he is joining the witness protection program.
Another, @thevirdas, titled the image "When everyone knows you ate the last slice of pizza but you refuse to admit it", and another joked that Merkel and the other leaders looked like dissatisfied autograph hunters at a comic convention.
One Photoshop user edited the image to depict the US president as a toddler sitting in a high chair, with a bowl of food on his head, and Merkel as his frustrated but determined mother trying to feed him.
Even leading European Union politician Guy Verhofstadt joined in the mockery, tweeting the picture with the caption: "Tell us what Vladimir has on you. Maybe we can help," referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Other reactions included the people in the picture being rearranged into a mock-up of Michelangelo's painting The Last Supper, while US historian @mikeduncan said: "This is genius artistic execution. Hang it in the Louvre."
Although he did not mention Trump by name, Macron's comments on the rejected communique at the end of the G7 meeting made it clear how angry he was with Trump's behavior.
"We spent two days to obtain a text and commitments. We will stand by them and anyone who would depart from them, once their back was turned, shows their incoherence and inconsistency," his statement read.
"International cooperation cannot depend on fits of anger or little words. Let us be serious and worthy of our people."
Merkel called Trump's withdrawal from the group statement - done by Twitter, his favorite method of communication - "sobering and depressing".
julian@mail.chinadailyuk.com
(China Daily 06/12/2018 page12)
