Trump's America: Reckless, Alone and Ridiculed - By Susan E. Rice
The president’s speeches before the United Nations foreshadowed his intention to ignore our greatest threats and to stoke fresh conflict needlessly.
By Susan E. Rice
Ms. Rice was the national security adviser during President Barack Obama’s second term.
Trailed by the Russia investigation, back-stabbing within his administration, looming midterm elections and Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s troubled nomination, President Trump arrived this week in New York distracted and under siege. At first blush, Mr. Trump’s second appearance at the United Nations General Assembly may have seemed like more self-congratulatory bluster, nationalist isolationism and rote genuflection to the altar of sovereignty — much like last year. But this time, Americans suffered the added humiliation of watching the world burst out laughing at their president, whose false bravado no longer induces shock but invites derision.
Given this drama, it’s easy to mistake Mr. Trump’s visit for a mash-up of meetings and muddled messages. But careful observers should not be diverted from discerning the president’s real purpose at the United Nations, because it is ominous.
On four critical policy fronts, President Trump foreshadowed his intention to ignore our greatest threats and to stoke fresh conflict where it is neither necessary nor wise. More telling than his rabidly ideological speech to the General Assembly was the president’s more substantive remarks before the Security Council on Wednesday. And by now we have ample reason to conclude that Mr. Trump generally means what he says and (eventually) does much of what he threatens.
First, President Trump doubled down on his determination to exonerate Russia and minimize the serious threat that it poses to us and our allies. In a Security Council session devoted to the preventing the proliferation of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, Mr. Trump ignored Russia’s recent attack with a deadly nerve agent that severely sickened four people in Britain and may have killed one other. He neglected to name Russia as the principal violator of United Nations sanctions on North Korea. And he failed to condemn Russia’s repeated lies to cover for Syria’s use of chemical weapons.
Not once in a visit whose central theme was American sovereignty did Mr. Trump mention Russia’s extraordinary and continuing interference in our democratic process. For reasons we can only hope will soon become clear, President Trump remains determined to coddle our most dangerous adversary, to the increasing detriment of our national security.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/opinion/trump-susan-rice-united-nations-reckless-alone-ridiculed.html
