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Eclipsed by 17-year-old Swedish climate-change activist Greta Thunberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, 73-year-old President Donald Trump kidded about the teenager beating him out for Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year.” What irks Trump isn’t Thunberg’s prodigious capacity to steal headlines but the American press looking for anything to report but the real headlines. To the American press, the story was about Thunberg lambasting Trump and other world leaders about the perils of climate change. Trump said Thunberg was part of the “profits of doom,” warning the world about the dangers of burning fossil fuels. Letting Thunberg dominate the headlines is more proof of media’s “fake news,” preferring to wasted time reporting about nonsense. Thunberg and Trump would not be mentioned in the same breath, were it not for the ratings-driven TV networks.

Pitting Thunberg against Trump is another David and Goliath story, letting the Asperbeger-diagnosed teenager command center stage, lecturing world leaders about the hazards of fossil fuels. Instead of discussing Europe or Japan’s negative interest rates forecasting economic slowdowns in Europe and Asia, the media prefers to focus on silly spectacles like pro-wrestling “smack-down” or, in this case, Thunberg v. Trump. Whether in the U.S. or Europe, the global press suffers from the same bereftness, sticking to sensational headlines rather than reporting on the substance in Davos of the world’s economy. Billionaire hedge fund managers and entrepreneurs like Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban should talk about the Federal Reserve Board’s loose monetary policies, reflecting, if nothing else, that the underlying economy remains weak, in need of extra monetary and fiscal stimulus.

Trump gets annoyed by Greta largely because he knows she’s an artifact of the fake news media, where selling tabloids is more important than reporting on real news. Trump’s impeachment trial qualified for more fake news, when even the most naïve viewer knows he’s heading for acquittal. If you listened to House impeachment managers, led by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calilf.), you’d think Trump committed murder or grand larceny. Democrats can’t explain how abuse of power or obstruction of Congress qualifies as an impeachable offense. Twenty-one states attorneys generals have asked the Senate to throw out Trump’s case, on the basis that it doesn’t meet the Constitutional test of high-crimes-and-misdemeanors. U.S. media outlets prefer to talk about Thunberg than whether or not House Democrats violated the Constitution impeaching Trump without real high-crimes-and-misdemeanors.

Media executives are waiting for Greta’s next “How Dare You” speech last heard Sept. 19, 2019 at the U.N. “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words,” Thunberg railed at the U.S. General Assembly. “Our house is still on fire,” Geta told delegates at the World Economic Forum Jan. 21. “Empty words and promises,” Greta said, lambasting world leaders to do more about global warming. No one questions who finances Greta or, for that matter, writes her catchy speeches, designed to guilt world leaders into doing something about climate change. “Your inaction is fueling the flames,” Thunberg said. How can the press argue with an autistic teenager pouring her heart out on the world stage. There’s nothing wrong with teenage climate activists but something very wrong with a media that pits Thunberg against an American president, all for ratings.

Winning backing from 71-year-old England’s Prince Charles, Thunberg’s perfect for the Royals who look to any headline to replace Meghan and Harry’s departure from the Family. “Everything I have tried to do, and urge, over the past 50 years has been done with our children and grandchildren in mind” Charles said before meeting with Thunberg at Davos. While it’s OKfor Charles to meet with a teenager, it’s not OK for him to meet with members of the EU on Britain’s Jan. 31 exit from the European Union. No, Charles’ publicists find Thunberg getting him better publicity from Thunberg than dealing with Britain’s real problems, including what happens to the North Ireland border or the British pound sterling once Brexit’s complete. Multinational corporations like Siemen’s CEO Joe Kaesner urged Trump to listen to Thunberg. “We have to sit together and involve them in dialogue,” Kaeser told Trump.

Media companies get ratings promoting the false narrative between Thunberg and Trump. If Thunberg had her way, no world leader would arrive to Davos via jet plane, something producing far too much fossil fuel pollution. Thunberg wants to end all fossil fuels but doesn’t have an alternative anytime soon. Trump’s not about to sail to Europe like Thunberg, who, for whatever reason, doesn’t have to earn a living while she’s a spokeswoman for the climate change movement. “There’s no need to fall into extremes, between those who say either that there is no problem with global warming or those who lament that nothing has been done to combat it, because it’s not true—there are things that have been done,” said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire. Instead of ginning up the climate crisis, Davos should focus on what can be done to get Europe and Asia out of their current economic slowdown.