USAmericans suffered one of the worst embarrassments they have had to go through in this century when their President, Donald Trump, arrived late and was unable to address the UN General Assembly in the first round, which, as the host country of the world’s highest body, was his due.

But that was only the first of a large number of gaffes that Trump has committed before the UN. The second was when he began his speech by stating that he was there to “share in the extraordinary progress we have made.” This caused an explosion of laughter in the audience of high representatives of the world community. The laughter rose in tone when he added “in less than two years my administration has achieved more than any other in the history of our country,…the US economy is flourishing like never before and we have the lowest unemployment in the last 50 years.

To that I would later add an inconceivable barrage of lies:

“unemployment among Latinos and blacks and other groups has declined;” “we have passed the biggest reforms in history,” “America is now stronger, safer and richer than before I took office,” he concluded to the astonishment of the audience. He justified trade war against China and assured the world that the United States was not going to “apologize” for defending its interests.

Forgetting that he spoke at the United Nations, he said the US would not cede its sovereignty to the “bureaucratic” spaces administered by the United Nations. He attacked many of the world’s institutions such as the UN Human Rights Council.

Regarding the International Criminal Court (ICC), he said that it has no jurisdiction, legitimacy or authority and that it “violates all the principles of justice” and therefore the United States neither recognizes it nor will support it.

On international relations, he maintained the tone that defines him as a hero: “I have forged close ties and friendships with leaders from all over the world.” However, he didn’t allude to the rise in tensions with historic allies such as the European Union, Germany, and Mexico; nor to the worsening of their ties with Russia and China.

The main U.S. media highlighted the isolation of the country provoked or exacerbated by President  Trump’s speech at the UN.

During his election campaign, Trump claimed that the world was laughing at the United States. Now it’s really laughing at Trump, says an editorial in The New York Times.

Yesterday the president apparently confused the UN General Assembly with a campaign rally, boasting that his administration achieved more successes than any of the previous ones. This was answered by laughter among those present, says the NYT. An editorial in USA Today questioned Trump’s isolationist policy, expressed in the slogan “America First. “The world’s biggest problems, such as climate change, terrorism, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, trade disputes or refugee flows, require international solutions,” the newspaper says. CBS puts it this way: “After 20 months in office, the president is much more adept at burying the international agreements signed by his predecessors than at replacing them with something better. (…) The spontaneous response of the dignitaries to Trump’s speech demonstrated the isolation of the U.S. president between allies and enemies alike. Trump’s nationalist policies created divisions with former partners and cast doubt in some circles on the reliability of Washington’s commitments.

The news site Político also highlighted the growing isolation of the ruler that was shown during several speeches in the plenary. As an example, it cites the speeches by the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and the French leader, Emmanuel Macron, both of whom defended multilateralism. “U.S. presidents used to set the global agenda at the United Nations General Assembly. Now they’re laughing at Trump,” Ben Rhodes, who was former President Barack Obama’s chief foreign policy adviser, wrote on Twitter.

It could be said that Donald Trump’s speech, full of nationalist rhetoric in this UN Assembly, served to formalize the abandonment by the United States of “globalism” and his embrace of “patriotism.” In addition, it reiterates the empire’s threat to not fulfill his country’s economic obligations to the organization, because these are “unjust” to the superpower.

September 26, 2018.

Manuel E. Yepe

http://englishmanuelyepe.wordpress.com/

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.