Trump at the UN: Veni, Vidi, Vici

(Renault/Zuma/WSJ photo)

Note: I wish to remind my smattering of readers that I never voted for President Trump (or his opponents) in any of the last three elections and strongly disagree with some of his policies, e.g, investing in Intel stock and trying to strong-arm ABC into cancelling Jimmy Kimmel (who I stopped watching over ten years ago). Some of the President's personal predilections, such as punching down, are off-putting.

However, with the benefit of hindsight I view him as vastly preferable to a President Harris. I agree with everything he said about the UN earlier today. Here's an excerpt from the WSJ summary and commentary:

“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” Mr. Trump asked. “I’ve always said [the U.N.] has such tremendous, tremendous potential, but it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential.” Right.

Peacekeepers? “Not only is the U.N. not solving the problems it should, too often it is actually creating new problems for us to solve,” Mr. Trump said. Right again.

Mr. Trump didn’t say this but we will. Ukraine war? The U.N. has been hapless. Gaza? It’s mostly emboldened Hamas to refuse to compromise. China’s expansions in the South China Sea? Useless.

Mr. Trump also dared to violate the holiest of U.N. holies by casting doubt on its preoccupation with climate change. The “greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” Mr. Trump said. That arguably goes too far, since global temperatures have climbed. But he’s surely right if he means that the trillions of dollars spent to stop the rise in temperature have accomplished nothing other than encourage political rent-seeking.

Mr. Trump also focused on his signature issue of controlling migration. He said the U.N. is “funding an assault on Western countries” by encouraging cross-border migration. In 2024, he said, the U.N. budgeted $372 million to help more than 600,000 migrants illegally coming into the U.S. “The U.N. is supposed to stop invasions, not create them and not finance them,” he said. We think the U.S. needs more foreign talent to stay prosperous, but European leaders in particular would be better off had they heeded their voters’ anxiety about mass migration.

Mr. Trump isn’t so much rejecting the U.N. as noting the way it has become an obstacle to the peace, prosperity and universal human rights it claims to promote.

In 2017 the U.N. delegates laughed at Mr. Trump’s General Assembly remarks, but not this time. If they were honest with themselves, at least some of them would admit that he has the place nailed.

The escalator at the United Nations stopped working the moment the President and the First Lady stepped onto it. His Teleprompter shut off at the beginning of his speech. I would've said that these events were an unfortunate coincidence, except that there is a report that UN staffers were overheard joking about these happenings before they occurred.

It would be an immature reaction, but if this influences the President's future actions toward the UN, I wouldn't object. As people are fond of saying these days, FAFO.