UPDATED with video: If you’re one of those people who value Western alliances that have safeguarded democracy for 70 years, it was a tough weekend for you, Stephen Colbert acknowledged tonight.
Canada hosted the G7 meeting over the weekend, and it did not go well.
G7 members are this country’s trading partners, and right before he showed up late for the confab, President Donald Trump declared protectionist trade tariffs against all of them. “That’s like showing up to an AA meeting with Captain Morgan,” Colbert explained.
The tension of the entire weekend was summed up by a photo of members that looked like a Renaissance painting, and went viral. “I believe it’s entitled ‘Still Life with Douchebag’,” Colbert said.
These meetings always end with a joint communique that’s an agreement of intention among the nations. Trump agreed to sign it. But after POTUS left town to head to his summit with Kim Jong-un, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a news conference that he will impose his own tariffs against the U.S. because, while Canadians are polite and reasonable, “they will not be pushed around.”
Trump retaliated, announcing he would not sign the communique, which German Chancellor Angela Merkel called “sobering” and “depressing.” Colbert said he’d play along with “depressing” but, so long as Trump is president, she’s on her own with “sober.”
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