Does the "G" in G-7 Stand for "Gaslighting?"
The leaders of the G-7 met in Hiroshima, Japan, and said some things that I was pleased to hear…except that they bear no resemblance to reality.
One thing starting to happen with greater frequency, and leading to greater confusion in the pundit class: The people who write speeches and press releases are saying things that are laudable but not reflected in policy and budget changes.
This was a big problem during the Trump years, and I didn’t expect to see it continue under Biden…but here we are.
From nukes to Pacific Islands to climate promises to straight up lying about China policy—and using euphemistic rhetoric about "resilience" and "de-risking” to make it go down easier—the statements being issued from the White House are consistently NOT reflecting what's actually happening in world politics or US foreign policy. The G-7 communique is an extension of this problem, on steroids.
I could call out more than a dozen instances of contradiction or flatly false statements in the communique, but for the sake of prioritization I’ll focus on four.
Let me break it down.