Trump challenges UN
UNITED NATIONS —
President Donald Trump poured scorn on the “ideology of globalism” and heaped praise on his own administration’s achievements Tuesday in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly that drew headshakes and even mocking laughter from his audience of fellow world leaders.
“The U.S. will not tell you how to live and work or worship,” Trump said as he unapologetically promoted his “America First” agenda. “We only ask that you honor our sovereignty in return.”
He showcased strong economic numbers, declared that the U.S. military is “more powerful than it has ever been before” and said that in “less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.”
Just sentences into the president’s remarks, the audience began to chuckle and some leaders broke into outright laughter. Trump appeared briefly flustered, then smiled and said it was not the reaction he expected “but that’s all right.”
The leaders’ response to Trump’s address only reinforced the American president’s isolation among allies and foes alike, as his nationalistic policies have created rifts with erstwhile partners and cast doubt in some circles about the reliability of American commitments around the world.
Barely an hour before he spoke, in fact, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres declared to the assembly that global cooperation is the world’s best hope and “multilateralism is under fire precisely when we need it most.”
Since taking office, Trump has removed the U.S. from the Paris climate accord, promoted protectionist tariffs and questioned the value of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and other alliances in furtherance of what he termed on Tuesday a strategy of “principled realism.”
To that end, Trump flaunted his embrace of negotiations with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un just a year after he had warned of raining down “total destruction” on a leader he branded “Little Rocket Man.” As Trump praised Kim’s “courage” on Tuesday, he unloaded harsh rhetoric on nuclear-aspirant Iran as a persistent malign influence across the Middle East.