The UN rebukes Donald Trump in his hometown
Foreign leaders refused to show the fealty Trump has come to expect from Republican lawmakers, conservative groups and even businesses
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Nancy Cook and Nahal Toosi on politico.com on September 26, 2018.
Foreign leaders came to President Donald Trump’s hometown of New York this week. But they refused to show the US president the fealty that he’s come to expect from Republican lawmakers, conservative groups and even businesses.
Over three days at the United Nations’ annual meeting, heads of state and diplomats repeatedly took issue with Trump’s go-it-alone, “America first” foreign policy pronouncements. At a UN Security Council meeting that Trump chaired on Wednesday, the criticisms of his foreign policy rolled in overtly and obliquely.
And in a remarkable moment on Tuesday, an entire audience of diplomats laughed at Trump when he boasted about his accomplishments during a speech before the general assembly. The rest of his address was met by silence and at the very end, polite, muted applause.
Trump showed off his own lack of interest in the institution of the UN. He arrived late for his own speech on Tuesday before the general assembly, with no explanation, and spent just 30 minutes at a cocktail reception that evening at the United States Mission of the UN, where the lobby is adorned with an Alexander Calder statue titled “Peace”.
Each night, Trump returned to his penthouse in Trump Tower while diplomats and foreign leaders roamed around midtown Manhattan, ferrying between cocktail receptions, hotel bars and dinners.