By Kenneth Tiven
US President Donald Trump took centre stage at the United Nations General Assembly this past week, providing a global audience with an embarrassing 20-minute performance that demonstrates the aging and fragile lawless dictator’s self-confidence.
Stoic silence—bordering on shock—greeted him at every thought, highlighted by his locker-room-style remark asking: “Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild… Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic… with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?”
The United Nations is about peaceful resolution of conflicts, with many national leaders speaking to the General Assembly over the past 81 years. Perhaps none from a major nation have been as obviously delusional as this appearance. In his defence, Trump is looking for an exit from a war he started without admitting defeat. This is Mission Impossible for even a smart leader.
Scattered and brief applause came only when he pointed out that his third wife, Melania, was seated with the US delegation, and in relief when it was over.
Watching an elderly man grip the lectern while extolling his “thugacracy” is unsettling. He disputed claims the US has exhausted a significant portion of its munitions already in the Iran effort. Subtract the meanness, and it was bland verbiage with none of the flair he brings to unscripted rants. No American president has ever spoken this way to the UN General Assembly. If anything, it confirmed the worst assessments of his foreign policy positions, while raising questions of his mental competence.
A Trump lecture is never without criticism of free speech and anti-government behaviour. He promised no leeway for communism or for transgender citizens, as if these were threats to the nation. While this language is red meat for core MAGA supporters, pre-election polling suggests this is not working.
Decades ago, the writer Isaac Asimov said: “There is a cult of ignorance through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Nothing has contradicted that appraisal.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was defiant at the United Nations, describing the US as the true bully and terrorist in the Middle East. Considered more moderate than the hardline religious leadership, he said: “It must be understood by President Trump and those who seek to bully us that we are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations, but without the language of force.”
It’s unclear how to read a surprise three-hour meeting between Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, and the US special envoy, Steve Witkoff, on the sidelines of the General Assembly. It may have been constructive, or maybe not.
What is clear is that Trump’s UN performance confirmed what has become obvious since Trump returned to the White House: There are serious questions about his physical and mental health affecting the rigours of this position.
One headline suggested: “We’ll Be Lucky to Have Any Allies Left After Trump’s Idiotic and Insulting UN Speech.” Ever the real estate salesman, his perception is the expansion of Artificial Intelligence will be great. His faith is in “Super Intelligence,” which he thinks is really the issue. At various points, the speech felt more like a campaign rally in the US Midwest than speaking to a global audience. His advising “brain trust” views the globe without sophistication as existing in three spheres—Russia, China and the Western Hemisphere—which Trump believes makes him king of more than just North America.
In the past week, the Trump administration had banned three prominent news organizations from the White House itself because he doesn’t like the content they report. A surprised White House was reproached by more than 50 media organizations signing an amicus brief backing Politico, CNN and MS NOW in their lawsuit, an unusual display of solidarity across the industry in calling for the immediate reversal of his media ban. To prove their point, major TV newsrooms stopped using any video of Trump, the moral equivalent of cutting off his oxygen.
The brief was signed by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the White House Correspondents’ Association and 49 other media organizations and runs the ideological gamut, from Fox News to Vox Media, and includes every major television broadcast network, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, among others.
Reality arrived a few days after the UN appearance when federal Judge Timothy J Kelly of the US District Court in Washington granted a 14-day restraining order, telling the White House to “immediately return, reinstate, and restore” the press credentials held by employees of the three outlets.
So here is the president—less than 40 days from the November 3 mid-terms—picking fights with news media, losing, and claiming to not be worried about losing control of the Congress. His polling is at the lowest level possible. The Iran war is unwinnable. Perhaps he will just ignore Democrats if they gain majority control of all Congressional committees. However, multiple committee investigations, like a swarm of drones, can be far more impactful than imagined.
—The writer has worked in senior positions at The Washington Post,
NBC, ABC and CNN and also consults for several Indian channels
The post The Bully Pulpit Meets Its Limits appeared first on India Legal.