Opinion | US exits world stage for now, as Donald Trump fights impeachment ahead of presidential election

In a low-energy and sometimes directionless speech this week to the UN General Assembly in New York, US President Donald Trump could not hide his disdain for international organisations and multilateral cooperation.

The globalist-bashing ideological focus marks a new low in Trump’s quickly unravelling presidency. Any bold ideas and stronger US global engagement that might have reached their zenith are quickly fading. The White House will only sink deeper into empty rhetoric as domestic political pressures mount.

His lacklustre teleprompter reading was an unexpected departure for the usually media-savvy president. He veered from pats on his own back for “national renewal” (a nod to his white supremacist base) to keeping up pressure on China in the trade dispute, hardly the topic for a gathering of world leaders.

There was certainly less to highlight as his third year in office comes to an end. There has been no breakthrough with North Korea, Iran or Afghanistan. A lack of resolution to the China trade dispute continues to roil markets. Venezuela’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, remains in power despite Trump’s threats.

There is conflict in Syria, a resurgent Isis presence, his trade deal with Canada and Mexico has still not received US congressional approval, and far from Mexico, US taxpayers are paying for his wall while the US military budget takes the hit.