A Salon columnist said Thursday that President Donald Trump looked so worn out at this week's Group of Seven summit in France that his appearance revealed more about his standing than the Iran agreement he traveled there to tout.
In a column published this week, Heather Digby Parton wrote that the 80-year-old president seemed unusually low on energy in Evian-les-Bains, a setting where his meetings with European leaders have turned combative. She opened by recounting that Trump had stayed late celebrating his birthday at a UFC event on the White House lawn before flying to the summit.
"Trump really looks worn out. On Tuesday, he appeared to have forgotten his usual bronze makeup, which was a startling sight. His energy is notably low, especially for a gathering like this one; meetings with Europeans usually turn him combative and hostile," she wrote.
Parton tied that flagging energy to what she described as a weakened position, writing that the president is "still smarting" from Western leaders' refusal to back his war with Iran and is now promoting the memorandum of understanding he signed as proof he is a hero, even as, in her telling, he "lost the war and is desperate to get out of it." Another op-ed similarly argued that Trump's leverage is fading as the midterms approach.
The column noted the agreement would extend a ceasefire for 60 days, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, lift sanctions on Iranian oil and establish a $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran while pushing nuclear talks into future negotiations. Trump signed it during a dinner hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron at the Palace of Versailles, a choice of venue that drew its own mockery.
Trump called Versailles "the real deal" and speculated that he might add a hall of mirrors to his planned White House ballroom. Parton's broader read echoed a conservative commentator who said Trump stumbled into a war he is now desperate to exit.