Just moments before landing in Japan for the G20, Donald Trump tweeted a bizarre video mocking technical mistakes at the first Democratic presidential debate.
Audio issues plagued Wednesday night’s televised debate, forcing NBC moderators Chuck Todd and Rachel Maddow to call a commercial break to fix the issue.
“We are hearing our colleague’s audio,” Todd said as voices were heard off-screen in the auditorium and presidential candidates, including Elizabeth Warren, watched on confused.
On Thursday morning, Mr Trump tweeted a mocked up video of the incident, which showed the screen go blank before a silhouette of Mr Trump emerges through the gloom clapping in front of an image of his supporters. Ozzy Osbourne’s song Crazy Train can be heard in the background.
“Thank you @MSNBC, real professionals!” tweeted Mr Trump, who included the Twitter handles of Todd and Maddow.
Mr Trump landed in Osaka minutes later amid a tropical cyclone that is predicted to turn into a typhoon - a possible metaphor for the four days of high-stakes diplomacy that lie ahead.
As his re-election bid heats up, Mr Trump was eager to produce breakthroughs on a series of foreign policy challenges including the showdown between the US and Iran, a trade war with China, the threat of fresh election interference by Russia and stalled nuclear talks with North Korea.
As he faces mounting pressures to deliver results, the president will meet one-on-one with at least eight world leaders on the summit's sidelines, beginning with dinner with Australian prime minister Scott Morrison.
Additional reporting by AP
