From Mockery to Respect: Trump Gains Influence Among World Leaders at UN

Trump: During his first term, President Donald Trump displayed his signature braggadocio at the UN rostrum, but the delegates responded with a reaction that was new to him: scornful laughter. Few could have predicted that the situation would recur seven years later. U.S. President, who was once the target of open mockery and skepticism from his international counterparts, comes to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday as a symbol of a shifting global order that is not very useful for international organizations such as the one he is speaking at.

Rather of mocking him, foreign leaders are now coming up with more extravagant ways to compliment U.S. President. Additionally, U.S. President is no longer a novice at a temple to multilateralism; rather, he is the president who has upended international agreements on trade and security while undermining the post-World War II international order that his predecessors established and fought to maintain.

His strategy’s triumphs and setbacks are still being chronicled. His idea to forgo a collective approach in favor of leveraging intimate personal ties with the leaders of Israel and Russia has so far produced almost no progress in the two wars in Gaza and Ukraine that he once pledged to resolve soon. (Trump intends to meet with a number of foreign counterparts on the fringes of the UNGA sessions after his address on Tuesday. One of them is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom Trump said last week ought to accept a peace agreement with Russia.)

Trump is often praised for his attempts to mediate peace in other places, such as the once-intractable dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan. There is disagreement on his involvement in other talks, such as those between India and Pakistan. In any case, Trump has made it clear that he feels his work merits a Nobel Peace Prize, in large part because he believes he has succeeded where others have failed, even via the UN.

Trump intends to highlight his strengths in his speech on Tuesday morning, notably on common international concerns like trade and migration, and he will also challenge the body he is speaking to.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that President Trump will make a big address highlighting the resurgence of American power globally and his historic achievements in only eight months, which include the conclusion of seven international wars and conflicts. “The president will also discuss the ways in which globalist institutions have seriously undermined the global order and present his clear-cut and positive vision for the world.”

The UN has never proved to be very appealing to Trump. He criticized the “cheap” marble on the General Assembly dais even before he was elected president, and he was incensed when his proposals to update the 39-story headquarters building were turned down in the early 2000s.

This was hardly his first argument. The real estate developer’s ambitions to build Trump World Tower just across First Avenue from the institution’s offices caused diplomatic staff to object throughout the preceding ten years. Their worry was that the famous modernist UN building, which had long benefited from its sunny location on the far east side, would be unsightlyly shadowed by the tower’s smoked-glass exterior.

Trump, who is in government for a second time, has a strong hold on international affairs, and the UN is not immune to his influence. The United States no longer contributes to the UN budget and has drastically reduced its funding for the organization. Trump’s cuts to financing for peacekeeping and humanitarian help abroad have left the organization in a precarious financial position.

As he signed a bill this year to remove the US from the UN Human Rights Council, Trump said, “I’ve always felt that the UN has tremendous potential.” “At the moment, it isn’t fulfilling that potential.”

In addition to the Human Rights Council, Trump withdrew the US from the UN-run World Health Organization and UNESCO, the educational and cultural organization that the White House said “supports woke, divisive cultural and social causes,” partly because of the way it handled the Covid-19 outbreak.

The United States has sometimes supported enemies rather than friends in votes on the UN Security Council, which is the primary body responsible for maintaining global peace and security. For instance, the US, Russia, and China teamed together in February to win the Security Council’s support for a resolution on Ukraine that refrained from blaming Moscow for the conflict; five European nations did not support the resolution.

Regarding Israel’s battle in Gaza and the prospect of a Palestinian state, Trump is also at odds with over half of the member countries, including important allies. On the fringes of this week’s UNGA, France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting a two-state solution meeting that has the backing of around 150 of the 193 UN members. Only ten nations voted against the General Assembly resolution supporting the high-level meeting, including the United States, which is not attending the summit.

The leaders of several Muslim-majority countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan, will meet with Trump on Tuesday for multilateral talks focused on the Gaza conflict. Trump has been under pressure to put more pressure on Israel to stop the fighting.

Trump administration representatives, as well as other

Republicans have long claimed that the UN is becoming more antagonistic against Israel. They have also questioned the effectiveness of multilateral diplomacy in resolving global issues and said that the UN is badly managed and plagued by financial mismanagement.

Trump spent eight months without an ambassador to the UN, demonstrating the body’s relative significance to him. On Friday, the Senate approved Mike Waltz, his former national security advisor, for the post.

Waltz then wrote, “Make the UN Great Again,” on X. “#MUNGA.”

Argentinean President Javier Milei, a close supporter of Trump who shares some of his political beliefs, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who has been advocating for more sanctions on Russia, will also attend Trump’s sessions with the UNGA.

As is customary for US presidents attending the yearly event, Trump will also see UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Trump often delivered dreary addresses at the UN during his first term, reading them grudgingly off the teleprompter. Nonetheless, there were certain moments that were very Trump-like, as when he called Kim Jong Un a “rocket man” and promised to “totally destroy North Korea.”

More frequent were claims such as Trump’s 2018 declaration that his “administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country,” which sparked derision. Trump attempted to dismiss the laughing when he heard it. “It’s okay,” he responded, “but I didn’t expect that reaction.”