Defying a Bully or Exchanging Views? G-7 Photos Tell Different Stories

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/11/world/americas/trump-group-of-7-photos.html

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The leaders of America’s closest allies challenged President Trump’s stubbornness at their Group of 7 summit meeting. Or they surrounded him to get his advice and wisdom.

Like the differing angles in a photograph that portrays the same scene, it partly depends on your point of view.

The photograph above, which has taken on an internet life of its own, is from the G-7 meeting in Canada this past weekend. It shows Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, confronting Mr. Trump while other leaders watch.

Other G-7 countries promoted photographs of their own leaders that sought to show them as the center of attention — or at least not as bystanders.

In the one below, posted by President Emmanuel Macron of France on his Twitter account, Mr. Macron appears to be challenging Mr. Trump in the same way as Mrs. Merkel.

In the Merkel-Trump photo, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan looked a bit like a disheartened witness to the tense face-off. But in the photo posted on his Twitter account, he appears to be a far more active participant in the encounter.

Members of the Trump administration who recorded the scene put a different spin on it. They offered a portrait of a steadfast American president surrounded by respectful counterparts — or, at least, ones not showing any hostility. Look at this Twitter posting by Dan Scavino, a White House aide.

Italy’s new populist prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, the only G-7 leader who supported Mr. Trump’s call to readmit Russia to the group, was shown on his Instagram account standing beside him reading a document.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, the host, was shown on the Twitter account of his official photographer listening carefully to whatever was being said. After the summit, he became the target of Mr. Trump’s most vitriolic tweets.