A week ago, the United Nations met in New York City for the annual gathering of world leaders. Suffice to say, the focus was on Trump rather than any agenda to be passed, which is unfair; many national leaders to be in the same room at once offers the chance for monumental work to be done. That should have been the focus.
However, in a way, it was all about Trump, but perhaps not in the way he wanted.
The most obvious of which is during his address to the general assembly; Trump bragged about how much his administration had done in comparison to his predecessors. The response from several world leaders was what mine probably would have been: laughter. In his sideline press conference on Wednesday, Trump brushed off the laughter saying that it was an inside joke and that the other leaders were laughing with him.
I consider myself fluent in schadenfreude, and that was not laughing with someone else. That was laughter in disbelief and mockery.
It is the only laugher Trump deserves from anyone, foreign and domestic.
He continued that press conference with himself as the focus. When asked about North Korea he said, without any evidence, that if it were not for him that the US and North Korea would be at war.
When the discussion turned to the Kavanaugh hearings that were happening the next day, Trump talked about how in his mind women were being paid money to make up stories about him and how Kavanaugh was going through the same thing. Even when promoting a baseless conspiracy, Trump cannot help but make it about himself.
“It was an 81-minute running riff on a) all the things HE has done and b) all the things HE doesn’t get credit for,” said Chris Cillizza, CNN’s editor-at-large.
Through all of the unintentional comedy and insults thrown around those two days, Trump’s message to the U.N. is clear: the U.S. is above you, and I will make it so. His actions show that Trump is willing to disregard the opinions of allied nations to promote the will of his advisors and loyal followers.
He has put unneeded pressure on the Israel-Palestine debacle by moving America’s embassy to Jerusalem, which earned the ire of just about every credible nation. He withdrew from the Paris Agreement in an appeal to his base, abandoning international commitments as well as potentially millions of jobs with the shift from carbon emitting power sources to renewable energy. Even when it comes to peacekeeping, Trump’s talk is focused around how the U.S. should be the one to right the wrongs against his enemies or those who disagree with him.
Not one nation should be the police force of the world, be it America, Russia, China, France, or even Luxemburg. We are part of an international community that has to work together to solve problems in the present, or in the far future.
The U.N. is a bureaucratic masterpiece, so much information and tools that can be used for almost any circumstances from a viral outbreak, insurgency, to international wars. It offers the platform for many problems to be resolved, and has more respect than Trump ever will have.
Trump will never command the same respect Obama did in his tenure. His address to the assembly and the laughter it elicited should be proof that unless he becomes the adult who deserves sits in the Oval Office, it is all he will ever be.
A joke.
