SWITZERLAND: Former US Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday he was not ruling out another tilt at the White House in 2020 but that in the here and now, Donald Trump should quit.
“I’ve told people I have not taken it off the table, but I’m not sitting around actively planning a (2020) campaign, or doing something, no,” Kerry, 75, told CNBC television at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Kerry was the Democrats’ defeated candidate in 2004 and if he did pursue a long-shot bid again, he would join a growing field from his party.
On Monday, Senator Kamala Harris entered the fray, bidding to become the first African-American woman to hold the Presidency.
On current affairs, Kerry said the government shutdown in Washington -- triggered by President Trump’s demands for a border wall -- was “utterly disgraceful” and “embarrassing for our country”.
Trump was guilty of “lies”, not least over the Paris climate accord, Kerry added during a discussion with UN oceans envoy Peter Thomson and Rebecca Shaw, chief scientist for environmental group WWF.
Asked what message he would give Trump were the President sitting opposite him, Kerry said to laughter: “Resign. “
When asked Tuesday what he would say to us President Donald Trump if he were seated across from him, former U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry hemmed and hawed a bit.
Then Kerry gave a one-word answer: “Resign.”
Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president in 2004, made the remark while speaking on a panel at the World Economic Forum.
The audience of mostly elite business, academic and government leaders from around the world initially laughed at Kerry’s comment, and then many clapped and cheered.
Trump was supposed to attend the World Economic Forum to deliver an address Tuesday, but he pulled out because of the partial government shutdown that is now the longest in U.S. history. Davos is widely viewed as an annual retreat for champions of globalization. Trump’s “America First” message is viewed as at odds with calls in Davos for a more integrated world.
“He doesn’t take any of this seriously,” Kerry said on the panel, adding that he doesn’t think Trump has the “ability” to have deep conversations. Kerry made his comment on a CNBC panel on the future of the oceans. Kerry and former Vice President Al Gore are spending this week urging business and government leaders to address climate change.
In addition to calling for Trump’s resignation, Kerry said the president’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord would cost lives. “People will die because of the President’s decision,” Kerry said.
The White House did not respond immediately to a request for comment, but Trump had bashed the media for not understanding him and his approach to Davos. - AFP, THE WASHINGTON POST
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