Donald Trump addressed the UN General Assembly yesterday in a speech that demonstrated several of his numerous flaws. It was delusional. It was boastful. It was incoherent. It was indecisive. It was petty. It was laced with ego. In short, it was an embarrassment on the global stage for both the man and the country which he is leading off a cliff. The worst of it was his insistence on a “might makes right” approach to world affairs — an odd attitude to have at the UN.
Under delusions, one has to cite his claim of stopping wars. ““While others have spoken of peace, I have made peace,” he said. “While others have ignored threats, I have confronted them. While others have talked of courage, America has shown it. While others have promised strength, I have used it to make America the most powerful country in the world.” Yet the Strait of Hormuz is closed, and the US is running low on missiles.
Boastful is almost always a given in a Trump speech. The paragraph above demonstrates that. Being a braggart on the world stage wins over no one, but being a braggart who boasts of events that never took place (e.g., his claim to have ended 8 wars) makes one look idiotic. He may well have lost friends with his speech.
The incoherence is also baked into a Trump speech. While claiming to be the peacemaker of all peacemakers, he also defended his war against Iran, his military actions in Venezuela and his energy embargo on Cuba. His off-topic remarks about transgender individuals while ignoring the word Palestine spoke volumes. Ishaan Tharoor of the Council on Foreign Relations stated, “I think he said the phrase ‘transgender mutilization,’ whatever that means, he said that three times. He did not say the word ‘Palestinian’ once.” He cannot stick to a subject.
When it comes to indecisive, the man is in the middle of a war of choice that he is losing, and he is dithering from the UNGA podium on his course of action. “Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world?” Mr. Trump asked, before raising a far different prospect, with no apparent effort to differentiate between the country’s leadership and military and its civilians. “Or do I annihilate the Islamic republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?” He later said, “Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?” By comparison, Hamlet was a man of action.
As for petty and ego-laden, the New York Times noted, “After reaching a deal with Denmark and Greenland over the territory, Mr. Trump told the gathered crowd he planned to build two new military bases on Greenland — something the United States could have done in previous decades under an existing treaty.”
He always needs to make a big production out of the smallest events. The entire NATO structure was at risk because he thought Greenland should be American and not Danish. And in the end, he got talked down to two bases that will not be built if the Democrats take the House in November. He starts a fire, kind of puts it out and then, he demands a medal for his actions.
The good news is that the speech is over, and he will not embarrass the US at the UN in person for another 12 months. There will be much about which to feel embarrassed as it it, but at least the audience will not be the entire planet.