US president Donald Trump reprised his ridicule of Greta Thunberg on Thursday after the Swedish climate activist was named Time's Person of the Year for 2019.
The 16-year-old won the magazine’s annual honour on Wednesday for her work inspiring millions of young people to take action against climate change.
“So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!” Mr Trump wrote on Twitter, in response to another person’s tweet congratulating Thunberg.
So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill! https://t.co/M8ZtS8okzE
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2019
The activist responded by updating her Twitter biography to include: “A teenager working on her anger management problem. Currently chilling and watching a good old-fashioned movie with a friend”.
The exchange came on the fourth anniversary of the Paris climate agreement, which Mr Trump withdrew the US from soon after taking office.
Denounced
This was not the first time the Republican president has taken aim at the teenager. In September, Mr Trump retweeted a clip of the teenager's speech to a United Nations climate summit in which she angrily denounced world leaders for failing to tackle climate change by demanding: "How dare you?"
His sarcastic commentary was that “she seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!”
The teenager also changed her Twitter biography following that slight to describe herself as “A very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future.”
Ms Thunberg had also been a contender for the Nobel Peace Prize, an honour Mr Trump covets. The businessman received the Time magazine designation in 2016 after he won the US presidential election over Democrat Hillary Clinton. – Reuters