Like a southern preacher admonishing the congregation to repentance and offering redemption, President Trump gave a no nonsense stem winding speech in his second address to the United Nations. Though often conciliatory, he pulled no punches and even named names. Standing deep in hostile territory, Trump flatly rejected globalism and firmly reaffirmed that the only path to world peace is with responsible sovereign nations.
Though the media will never report the numerous nations applauding Trump’s message, this was a hard lesson for the United Nations as a body and global council. We must understand the United Nations and its nature to grasp their engrained resistance to Trump’s insistence national sovereignty is supreme. Founded in 1945, The United Nations was intended as an international forum to resolve international disputes, foster cooperation, and maintain a harmonious world order. The premise was to avoid the carnage of another world war by bringing sovereign nations together to balance their interests peacefully.
The UN is an intergovernmental organization designed to influence world affairs, but any organization granted any authority becomes ambitious in its goals. They pass resolutions, but someone must enforce them. The concept was member states would step up when enforcement was needed. The Korean War is perhaps the best example when the UN sponsored the intervention in North Korean aggression by sending an international force under US leadership to halt the incursion into South Korea. All participating countries volunteered.
Peacekeeping and other humanitarian missions kept coming, so the UN created agencies to deal with each new challenge. The UN saw itself as a solution to world problems, but it became very bureaucratic constantly seeking to expand its jurisdiction and power. The purpose was sound, but no one in the UN is elected by anyone. Member nations send delegates, but the executive and bureaucracy are appointed or hired – UN officials are not accountable to any actual citizens. So you have appointed officials trying to exercise authority over duly elected governments. But it gets worse because the UN is dominated by corrupt and leftist officials desperate to usurp more power; they are very dangerous.
The UN, leftists around the world, and the media chaffed at Trump’s unabashedly anti-globalist speech; they think only they know what is best for mankind and how to govern the world. But let’s examine the world since Trump provided clear courageous American leadership on the international stage. During the Obama years, the Russians were encroaching where ever they pleased, Chinese economic domination seemed unstoppable, North Koreans were lobbing missiles everywhere, and radical Islamist terror was inevitable with people regularly getting their heads cut off.
The world still has many problems, but under Trump’s decisive bold leadership: the Russians are just trying to keep the Syrians from shooting down their aircraft, the Chinese under pressure are at the trade talks table, North Korean missiles are grounded and Kim Jong Un has agreed to denuclearization, and ISIS has been eviscerated and Iran is stumbling. None of this seemed even possible under Obama; the sense of impending planetary doom was inescapable. No matter how you spin it, Trump is without a doubt increasing world stability.
Trump didn’t just talk in lofty generalities; he was direct and emphatic. He called out Russia for international meddling, he warned Germany about a cozy unilateral deal with Russia that would make them dependently beholden to Russia, he admonished China for unfair trade practices, and reminded North Korea he meant business – sanctions would increase until denuclearization is achieved. The intensely bureaucratic snobbish UN diplomats hate ultimatums based on truth and reality. They love to dabble in the gray areas, so Trump’s plain spoken black and white directives repulses their power hungry appetites.
Trump proudly reasserted his America first agenda, but he did not cast it as a cudgel to beat the world into submission. He praised national sovereignty for every country and offered his vision as a beacon to lead the world out of the global darkness of socialism. He implored every country to reaffirm their sovereignty and recommit to international stability. The American economy is roaring and we are getting stronger. He invited every nation to join us in peace and prosperity by making every nation great again.
“With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.” Psalm 78:72
