Greta Thunberg wishes ‘old man’ Trump a ‘wonderful future’

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was reversing a barb that outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump had aimed at her in 2019

January 21, 2021 01:40 pm | Updated 01:42 pm IST - Stockholm, Sweden

Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg. File

Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg. File

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg on January 20 renewed a feud with Donald Trump, saying the outgoing U.S. President “seems like a very happy old man looking forward to a bright and wonderful future”.

The teenager was reversing a barb that Mr. Trump — who frequently disputes the science behind climate change — had aimed at her in 2019 when he wrote on Twitter that “she seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future”.

 

The tweet was a sarcastic response to a fiery speech given by Ms. Thunberg at the United Nations where she told world leaders: “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. How dare you?”

In response, Ms. Thunberg later modified her Twitter biography, referring to herself as “a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future”.

Mr. Trump withdrew the U.S. from a 2015 international accord designed to limit greenhouse gases.

The outgoing leader told last year’s Davos forum that the world “must reject the perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the apocalypse”.

Ms. Thunberg’s campaigning has earned her Amnesty International’s top human rights prize and the Swedish Right Livelihood Award, often presented as an alternative Nobel, and she was named the 2019 person of the year by Time magazine.

The pair previously clashed on social media following Mr. Trump’s defeat in November’s election, when she posted a message telling him to work on his “Anger Management problem”, adding: “Chill Donald, chill!”

Mr. Trump had used the same phrase to mock Ms. Thunberg a year earlier.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.