Donald Trump Had To Ride A Golf Cart While Other G7 Leaders Walked Streets Of Sicily
Donald Trump followed along in a golf cart as leaders from the G7 nations took a leisurely stroll around the streets of Sicily, the latest sign that the U.S. president appears to be suffering exhaustion during the first trip abroad of his administration.
The leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and Japan were together in the Italian city for a summit when they took a short walk for a photo op. While the others walked the entire distance, Trump was forced to follow behind in a golf cart, The Times of London reported.
“They walked the 700 yards from the traditional G7 group photo, taken at a Greek amphitheatre, to a piazza in the hilltop town, but Mr. Trump stayed behind until he could take a seat in the electric vehicle,” the report noted.
News of the incident and pictures of Donald Trump’s trip in the golf cart went viral on Saturday, the latest instance of the president seemingly falling victim to fatigue during the extended trip to the Middle East and Europe. Trump has suffered from some other apparent lapses during the trip and also adjusted his schedule to shorten some visits and cancel others.
There had been reports that Donald Trump had been suffering from exhaustion during the trip, his first international trip as president. Earlier in the week, Trump stumbled during a speech on Islam, accidentally referring to “Islamic extremism” instead of what was written in the speech, “Islamist extremism.”
A White House official later told CNN that Donald Trump “just an exhausted guy” after 14 hours of travel and much time working on the speech.
But that also seemed to undercut a popular criticism Donald Trump had for his opponents during the 2016 presidential campaign. On the campaign trail, Trump often claimed his opponents didn’t have the energy necessary to serve as president, Salon noted. He even leveled one of these criticisms at Hillary Clinton during a debate last year.
Trump 'exhausted' three days into first trip abroad as president: Reports https://t.co/Z352vid2Yv via @dcexaminer
— Dave D'Anza (@DaveDAnza1) May 26, 2017
“She doesn’t have the look. She doesn’t have the stamina, I said she doesn’t have the stamina, and I don’t believe she does have the stamina,” Trump said of Clinton.
As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton traveled to a record 112 countries.
G7 leaders cannot help but laugh at him everytime Donald Trump turns his head. https://t.co/PXiwWxU6rH via @bi_politics
— Mariano (@art2u2) May 27, 2017
Later in the current trip, Donald Trump appeared to grow confused and wander away during a joint press conference in Israel with Benjamin Netanyahu. Video showed aides intercepting Trump and walking him back to Netanyahu to shake hands for a photo.
The video sparked new questions about Donald Trump’s mental health and ability to face the rigors of being president. The political blog Crooks & Liars mused about whether Donald Trump “has inherited his father’s Alzheimer’s disease,” and others have questioned whether Trump may have moved into the early stages of dementia.
As the Root noted earlier this month that some mental health experts were worried about Trump after a series of bizarre incidents and interviews.
“Rice University history professor and leading presidential historians Douglas Brinkley analyzed Trump’s interviews from over the last few days. Brinkley, who has read hundreds—if not thousands—of transcripts and presidential interviews, concluded that Trump seemed to have a ‘confused mental state,’ the likes of which he has never seen. ‘It seems to be among the most bizarre recent 24 hours in American presidential history,’ Brinkley told Politico magazine.”
The use of a golf cart didn’t appear to help Donald Trump much in keeping up with the fellow G7 leaders this weekend. The Times of London reported that he still arrived last to the photo op, forcing the other six to wait for him to show up.
[Featured Image by Evan Vucci/AP Images]
