The president made clear that he’s done “standing up for the world.”
The world laughed at Donald Trump.
Seven years ago, Trump was just a few sentences into his annual United Nations General Assembly address when most of the gathered leaders of the 193 countries represented began to chuckle—and then outright guffaw. A visibly startled Trump had been boasting about his administration’s successes; he had long claimed that other nations mocked his presidential predecessors, and now it was happening to him. Trump later publicly downplayed the moment. But aides at the time told us he was seething.
No one is taking him lightly now.
Trump returned to the United Nations rostrum today for the first time since he reclaimed the White House. The moment underscored how dramatically his relationship with the world has changed. Trump has led a campaign to upend the global order that the United States built following World War II. He has bent foreign leaders to his will while antagonizing allies by musing about a return to an age of American imperialism, when the U.S. could simply seize the territory it wanted. He and his advisers have launched trade wars and aligned themselves with movements that have eroded democracies and supported rising authoritarians.
In his meandering, grievance-filled speech today, Trump belittled the threat of climate change, warned about excessive immigration, and touted his role as global peacemaker even though the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have escalated in recent months. He mocked alliances and the United Nations itself, outlining something of a Trump Doctrine that prioritizes individual nations’ sovereignty and a transactional approach that rewards only those nations that can do something for the United States—or him personally.
“During the campaign, they had a hat, the best-selling hat: ‘Trump was right about everything.’ And I don’t say that in a braggadocios way, but it’s true,” he said. “I’ve been right about everything.”
Trump, in some ways, has withdrawn the United States from the world. He has weakened ties with traditionally close allies, derided globalism and curtailed U.S. soft power by slashing everything from foreign aid to overseas government-funded media. Since returning to office, Trump has heralded America’s exit from the UN’s global health agency, its human-rights council, and its cultural organization. He has also cut funding for a wide array of UN activities, including food assistance and aid to refugees and children. As a result of this major reduction from its biggest funder, the UN has secured funding for only a fifth of this year’s required budget for humanitarian activities, a top UN official said this month.
Matthew Kroenig, vice president of the Atlantic Council, told us that Trump’s approach reflected a Republican Party consensus that global institutions like the UN have long been broken, allowing Russia the power to thwart Security Council measures on Ukraine or enabling decades of General Assembly resolutions critical of the U.
