Trump is the odd one out

Pretty well everyone was against Trump at the G7 summit. What a way for the "leader of the western world" to lead the western world. Only the new Italian populist leader sided with Trump. This time it was all about Russia and Trump's wish to have his friend Vladimir Putin back round the G7 table. To be accepted as the G8th member, Putin has a lot of apologising and making up to do and he certainly isn't going to do either of those things. So Trump was pretty outrageous to even suggest having the Russian president back in favour. His suggestion met with stoney faces. The G7 club is supposed to be all about unity and consensus. Otherwise there's not much point having it at all. But when it's Trump versus the rest on steel tariffs, climate change, Iran nuclear deal and a host of other big issues, such as Palestine/Israel etc, what hope is there of any form of consensus. Angela Merkel is probably right when she says laying out the differences with the US is more honest than cobbling together some meaningless communique which tries to paper over the huge cracks. Trump has stirred up the G7 members so much that calling the other nations allies no longer seems appropriate. All Trump was interested in was spelling out his demands and then flying off to Singapore for his one-on-one chat with Kim Jong-un. Good riddance I expect Merkel and co thought as they tried to swallow the food on their plates. I wonder if they started to think: "Hey, let's have a G6 summit next time, no US and no Russia."