G20: Donald Trump says he would have left summit in China over Obama staircase flap

Donald Trump said on Monday that he would have left the G-20 summit in China over a logistical flap that left President Barack Obama disembarking Air Force One onto a plain metal staircase.

Article by Jose A. Del Real

The president’s subdued arrival on Saturday afternoon, from a secondary exit on the presidential plane, stood in contrast to other world leaders who departed their planes onto red-carpeted stairs – and some, including Trump, perceived it as a snub by Chinese officials.

Donald Trump said on Monday that he would have left the G-20 summit in China over a logistical flap that left President Barack Obama disembarking Air Force One onto a plain metal staircase.

The president’s subdued arrival on Saturday afternoon, from a secondary exit on the presidential plane, stood in contrast to other world leaders who departed their planes onto red-carpeted stairs – and some, including Trump, perceived it as a snub by Chinese officials.

Temperament Update: Trump would leave G-20 mtg b/c the staircase offended him and he was wrong abt the staircase. https://t.co/wjMCMIDmwk

— Jesse Ferguson (@JesseFFerguson) 5 de septiembre de 2016

He was speaking at a roundtable with labour leaders in Brook Park, Ohio.

“I’ve got to tell you, if that were me, I would say, ‘You know what, folks, I respect you a lot but close the doors, let’s get out of here,'” he added.

“It’s a sign of such disrespect.”

The Clinton campaign quickly seized on the comments and criticised Trump’s temperament. “Temperament Update: Trump would leave G-20 mtg b/c the staircase offended him and he was wrong abt the staircase,” tweeted Clinton spokesperson Jesse Ferguson.

Trump has regularly accused Obama of failing to show strength against foreign leaders and has pointed specifically to Air Force One arrivals to make his point.

He made similar claims that Obama had provoked a national embarrassment when Obama visited Cuba and Saudi Arabia earlier this year, calling decisions by the heads of state not to greet Obama at the airport “unprecedented.”

“The truth is they [other countries] don’t respect us. When President Obama landed in Cuba on Air Force One, no leader was there, nobody, to greet him. Perhaps an incident without precedent in the long and prestigious history of Air Force One. Then, amazingly, the same thing happened in Saudi Arabia. It’s called no respect,” Trump said in April.

The Washington Post’s Fact Checker rated that comment false, and noting that heads of state have opted not to greet American presidents on airport tarmacs in the past.

Trump, talking about the staircase, added that he “guaranteed it was built in China, it wasn’t built here, okay?” The stairs in question, which folded out from the centre of the plane, were part of Air Force One.

Read more at smh.com.au