I wonder how many readers found Doug Mills’s accompanying photo, through the “iron sight” of a rope stanchion, irresponsible.
Ralph Nader's title "Unsafe at any Speed" immediately comes to mind.
If you're known to be a liar, no one believes a word you say. hey certainly don't build policy based on it. The world might be watching for the spectacle of his lunacy , but nobody at the UN will be listening, that would be a waste of time.
4
Here's a worry: Trump is appalling and alienating the world from our USA.
7
"Mr. Abe looked on, expressionless" ...as does the whole country, he's unbelievable...
3
In the Donald Trump-Kim Jong-un saga so far, it is the latter who emerged triumphant. The North Korean leader knew that a one-on-one meeting with the leader of the most powerful country in the world was the surest way of getting rid of his pariah status in the world, and he grabbed the opportunity.
If after just one meeting Trump found the person he ridiculed as "rocket man" until recently “very honorable,” it speaks to his diplomatic skill and shrewdness. He knew that the best way to win Trump over was to salve his oversize ego.
If Trump's goal is to get North Korea denuclearized, that won't happen anytime soon. Kim can afford to continue his plan as long he can keep his main benefactor, China, in good humor. Alas, Trump does know that he can never get a deal with N. Korea if he keeps antagonizing China.
Similar is the case with his vow to rip up the Iran nuclear deal. Unlike Kim, President Hassan Rouhani of Iran is not enthusiastic to meet him because he has no pariah status to get rid of. That's why he is cold to Trump's overtures to meet with him to renegotiate the nuclear deal. Also, he finds no reason to do it because other parties to the deal have expressed their determination to keep it alive. They would do so as long as Iran complies with its terms, which Iran has been.
He could be in for another humiliation if he insists on making this Wednesday's U.N. Security Council meeting all about Iran. There are four more members at the Council that enjoy veto power.
5
I have been commenting in the NYT for over a dozen years and have been criticized for being biases. I am not a Democrat or a Republican. I am a Canadian and finally I can say I have no political bias. America is now an existential threat to my country and the things its stands for. Along with China, Russia, the Philipines, and Saudi Arabia and the USA our values do not conform to your values and we are the enemy.
10
In an average year, Americans could say, "God protect us from the fools within." But I fear He left the room a long time ago. So it'll be a crapshoot how Trump will behave, depending on how much sugar he had for breakfast, or who did, or did not, fawn all over him that morning.
The whole thing is an utter farce and the whole world knows it. Half are just playing along out of some quickly-draining respect, while watching the other half create alliances and jostle for position.
1
Why do his advisors worry that President Trump will "cave" at the UN on North Korea? Because of the personality of our "Great Deal-Maker." He first blusters and threatens...which actually may have gotten us a little ways with No. Korea. But then, since everything in the end is all about Donald Trump, his own ego and desire to display the trappings of success--plus his ignorance of foreign policy and thus vulnerability to be made a dupe--lead him to "declare victory" too soon, to think "personal meetings" with statesmen in which he plays the starring role have made a decisive difference, and then--when little happens--to be driven to cover up his failure with claims of success...or with one-sided concessions in order to keep the ball rolling so as to postpone the ultimate day of failure. I don't regret that Trump had a summit with the leadership of No. Korea. We needed to try a different path. But in pursuing that path, I hope the President's ego and penchant for substituting illusion for reality will not lead him (or at least his National Security team) to close their eyes to the fact that we are embarking on a difficult (and not necessarily successful) process with a brutal adversary which has lied and lied again to us in negotiations and agreements on this issue over the last 20 years.
I hope their fear turns into Crohn's disease.
Have hotline installed for aides--straight to Sean Hannity--that's right--pure genius-disguised as talk show host.
3
How egregious for a Country-founded on Colonial Revolt- cannot do what's right and make Puerto Rico the 51st State. Trump today-- an ‘absolute no’ on Puerto Rico statehood because of San Juan’s ‘horror show’ of a mayor. Ridiculous display of Presidential Mental Decline--Trump more of George III than George Washington.........
13
The EU should be encouraged to honor the deal made with Iran and take what ever actions it can to help mitigate the pain caused by the trump sanctions. The world needs to move forward without the US and trump. Trump never honors any deal when it no longer suits him including anything that he may negotiate with North Korea. You can't trust a pathological liar.
4
If i was as aide to Trump, I'd be more worried about spending eternity in Dante's Inferno as a result of my service to the Prince of Moral Degeneracy. In fact, I've heard they're busy at work building a whole new level just to accommodate Mr. Trump and his abettors.
4
"Mr. Abe looked on, expressionless."
Props to the prime minister! With the astonishing drivel that the president endlessly spews, just keeping your jaw from dropping is really tough!
22
Trump just admitted that he takes the advice of Hannity, Dobbs and Pirro, and the dotard is about to speak for us on the world stage. Oh my God, just does not cover my reactions anymore and the Times rightfully will not print what's on my mind. It would make Stormy Daniels blush.
20
Let’s face it, no one world around believes one single word that comes out of Donald Trump’s mouth - except his supporters here on US soil. So it doesn’t really matter what he says. It’s basically bla, bla, bla, and then he waits for an applause.
It’s only the applause that matters to him anyhow.
22
How many lies & falsehoods can he tell at the UN this year? Will he surpass 7000 just in this one week? Reigning over the Security Council will give him the audience to brag about all his accomplishments that have been more than any other president or world leader has ever accomplished in 19 months. Maybe most of the other members will not show up or come in fashionably late & disrupt his speeches. After he brags for an hour or so he will walk out before any of the other countries can speak out against him. How embarrassing it is to be American at this time.
12
The mental picture of several serious minded presidential staff trying to throw a rope around the loosest cannon ever seen in the White House at first makes you laugh, but then come the tears for our country.
9
Trump's aides should be worried. He's taking the advice of Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs and Jeanine Pirro over theirs. The address promises to be an embarrassing mess and the only way we can be redeemed in the eyes of the world is if we turn the House and the Senate as blue as possible so we can kick Trump to the curb. Anything less and our nation will be marginalized. Trump thinks might makes him right. The world knows that's not only wrong but dangerous.
Please vote like you mean it. The world is watching . . .
44
From past behaviors Trump appears to be constitutionally unable to not push his agenda regardless of what was agreed. Further, I suspect we will hear more of his braggadocio which will take up some time.
6
Trump is going to chair a meeting of the security council? With his infamous proclivity to wander hither and yonder? I am sure it will be quite productive from his viewpoint.
9
Lets not forget we helped bring on the Iranian revolution with our backing of the Shah and other meddling in the Middle East. But to the chest thumpers that level of honesty is UnAmerican. George Washington would never fit into today’s government of thieves and meddlers. We are an empire not a republic.
9
Like those parents with ill behaved, rude children having the Donald on the world stage is more something to be worried about than to be proud. The "star" of Helsinki and Singapore is currently 0 for 2 let's hope he doesn't bomb out again.
5
So President "I Alone" wants his UN visit this week to be all about Him because he is the greatest man ever to have existed on this planet. His aides think one way and don't know what he said (because he insists upon meetings alone0 on other occasions and they let him.
Where's Mr. Anonymous to help when we need him?
So we have Trump roaming the halls of the UN in search of the lights and cameras making sure the focus on Him never waivers.
How much preparation did Trump do? Did he read any position papers? Probably not because he knows everything already.
This is putting his narcissistic dysfunction on full display before the world yet again.
He has admitted that he makes up stuff when talking to other world leaders (Trudeau). America's money and oil interests most likely keep other countries from completely disregarding Trump as they should.
The world stage waits for Trump! All hail.
18
It is always frightening to watch a person unconstrained by morals, intelligence and competence bluster on the world's stage. It is not what we're about!
38
How can trump say that most people don't know the Korean War has not ended? I would surmise that he is the only one who didn't know.
18
When Trump says "most people don't know," it means he just found out.
2
'...Far from restraining Mr. Trump’s belligerent tendencies, his senior aides are engaged in a quiet effort...'
What is a 'quiet effort'?
Tying his shoelaces together?
22
@kate
I think that understates the ingenuity of the president's aides.
I believe they use more nuanced techniques.
Such as ("allegedly") a cheeseburger on a string.
3
Trump is not mentally capable of chairing a UN meeting!
The White House continually denies, but it's little things that prove that Trump has some sort of dementia or cognitive difficulty. His tweet about leading the Security Council meeting on Iran and his claim that the Korean War is still going on are irrefutable proof. It is a message repeated by Wolf, Omarosa, Woodward, and the anonymous Op-Ed to the NYT. And ignored by most Americans.
This article again describes Trump aides scrambling to create a format at the United Nations that Trump won't devastate by his ignorance and unawareness of the world around him.
It remains dumbfounding how a majority of Americans can take Trump seriously, even if some disagree. This guy can't grasp or remember critical topics of the world he is supposed to be running. Yet his aides continue to lie to us about Trump's sanity.
Apparently, as long as Trump doesn't have the nuclear codes close at hand we can allow him out of his playpen with a few adults nearby for safety.
29
Only a small number of Americans take Trump seriously. Don't be fooled be the social media bots.
7
No doubt Trump is looking for a national crisis to divert from him as a national crisis.
26
World stage – September 2018
1. South Korea strengthening ties with NK, thanking President Trump profusely for facilitating this.
2. China - “Many Chinese are now asking if their country is really prepared to take on the world’s most powerful nation.”
3. Iran - the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps suffered a humiliating blow after it was attacked over the weekend.
4. Israel – Taking down Russian planes with impunity and facing no retaliation from Moscow.
5. Russia – so close to the Trump Administration, it hurts.
Should be an interesting week.
9
@Mike Edwards A strange point of view, dear Sir.
1. An even moderately deep analysis shows that the South Koreans are rather frustrated at the U.S., as the everchanging rhetorics of the White House creates a kind of a jeopardy as per Mr Moon's vision of peace with NK.
2. "Many Chinese" may ask this question, but even more of them have no doubt, and President Xi is definitely one of those.
3. A bold statement which is based on no fact.
4. The Russian plane was taken down by a Syrian AA system, and the Israeli military command went to Moscow to present - a unique case in modern history of the country - a detailed report on their mission, including targets etc. Moscow has retaliated on a lot of diplomatical levels, and with very high efficiency.
5. Once again, no fact to confirm it. Also, Mr Putin will be absent from the Assembly.
5
@Igor Lys
Thank you for the input and offering explanations of the events I outline.
One point - #3 re: Iran - my comment was lifted almost verbatim from this morning's Times. I would suggest, therefore, that it is based on fact.
If Mike Pompeo thinks that Iran is the “world’s largest state sponsor of terror,” then what exactly would he refer to the nuclear triad as? An international system of emergency fireworks?
“Mr. Abe looked on, expressionless.”
You and the rest of the world, Mr. Prime Minister.
29
Of course Abe is worried. He doesnt want a unified Korea. He doesnt want peace. As with China, Japan does not want a unified Korea. Korea has been a pain for both countries for centuries. One of them usually occupies it when it creates problems. They are not friends!
1
Trump chairing a meeting of the U.N. Security Council? Will he proceed to go around the circular table demanding "loyalty" from all the independent, sovereign nations assembled there? He is certain to riff on his false, repetitive claim that NATO countries are freeloading on a victimized U.S. ("Very unfair", we're being ripped off".) Undoubtedly, the Fake President will work in some fawning adulation for his pal Putin, even as the Mueller Investigation advances more compelling evidence of criminal collusion by his campaign with Russian agents to affect the 2016 election. My personal fantasy would be for the entire Security Council, but for Trump, to stand up and leave the room in a concerted protest as soon as he begins to speak. Let this dangerous, total imposter recite his brazen lies and incoherent non sequiturs to an empty hall.
32
Trump is ill-equipped (that's being kind - he's actually not equipped at all) to participate in any strategic chess matches with anybody at the UN. Look for disaster on that front. But then there is the you-know-it's-coming sheer embarrassment of him waddling and strutting and preening and elbowing his amongst other world leaders who actually know what they're doing. I wince in anticipation on behalf of good taste and decorum and our imperiled republic.
47
Paranoid! which is it? First the President stood up for American and world interests and he was un diplomatic to dictators and socialist free riders. Now that his policies are working and these guys are realizing that the anti American and free ride is over... suddenly Trump is accused of actually negotiating from a position of strength.
In less than two years the president has upended corrupt,weak,and anti American world socialist agenda and MAde America Great Again
1
Maybe China could invite everyone to a dim sum party that coincidentally is set for the same time as the Security Council meeting. And everyone else in the General Assembly either has a funeral to attend or a dental appointment at whatever time he is scheduled to speak.
12
Reading Woodward's book, what becomes clear, aside from Tweet's level of ignorance (did he actually take any exams in college or did he pay someone to take his tests?), the people around him do not come off particulary well either: Preibus, Bannon, Kushner, McMaster, Kelly, Mattis, Tillerson, Pompeo-non strike me as members of memsa! At least with Obama, I felt his advisors were thoughful, intelligent, saw the big picture and understand the world. Powers, Rice, Clinton, (yes, Hillary knew what she was doing, despite the fact that her detractors did not like her), Gates at Defense, Emmanuel, McDonough, all the rest. Obama did not need tutoring in the history of the world, so time wasn't wasted. Did he make mistakes? Yes, every president does. But, I felt much safer with him at the helm that with this crew.
61
Our only recourse to derail this runaway train is to vote in big numbers and turn over both houses of Congress. Nothing else - whatever happens to Kavanaugh, Rosenstein or Mueller - will have the same impact.
10
I do not understand why Europe is so weak.
1
@Louis Friedman
The leader of the free world is now Angela Merkel, and you're referring to Europe as the country that's become weak???!
22
Trump has no place at the UN. He is using the forum as a bully pulpit, while undermining its raison d’être, and bringing the world body to its knees.
Since his last appearance a year ago, the US has withdrawn from the UN Human Rights Council and UNESCO. This month, the White House threatened the UN-mandated International Criminal Court with punitive measures.
To his aides’ dismay Trump tweeted that he would “Chair the United Nations Security Council meeting on Iran”, drawing the ire of American allies and others in the international community, who want to stick to the nuclear deal with Iran.
Other countries will find their own ways to publicly and privately push back against Trump. Shinzo Abe, a close ally, will meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the UN session. Abe wants to demonstrate that he can also go his way, now that Trump is not helping him out the way he has hoped on North Korea and trade.
30
@J. von Hettlingen
His appearance at the UN serves only one purpose - to grandstand and show the world that he still counts, despite low approval ratings at home.
18
@J. von Hettlingen
No. World leaders are given their turn to speak, and it was his turn...
... unfortunately for all of us.
1
Trump’s foreign policy pronouncements feel like giving a toddler a loaded gun to play with. Anything can happen at any time, none good. Trump's advisors (Bolton) needn’t worry about him being overly diplomatic. He won’t. Yet another idiotic pronouncement will be tomorrow’s headlines- never fails.
Unless, Rouhani complements Trump’s bouffant’s color and shape, which could change Trump’s Iranian position, Netanyahu/ Adelson can relax. Trump will denounce the horrible Iran deal Mr. Obama reached. Trump doesn’t t have an ideology, or idea even, except for personal gain, mostly in the form of money and adulation.
Like Harvey Weinstein’s compulsive, life-long abusive behavior, eventually it will hit the fan. It always does.
18
I don't know Secretary Pompeo, I suspect people in the Mideast believe we are the largest state sponsor of terrorism, not Iran.
Ask all of the people whom we have bombed, droned to death, and shot in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Iraq? And they did not have a lot to do with 9/11 now did they? But, no, we are best buds with the biggest enabler of terrorism: Saudi.
37
We can hardly wait for the group hug photo of Putin, Kim, Xi, and Trump. What a wonderful world it will be.
14
God save our souls!
8
Trump may well be the worst president in our history and the least competent chief executive amongst all the major nations on this earth. I certainly would not dispute those conclusions. What I cannot forget, however, is that he sits in the White House because the arguments presented to the swing voters in our Heartland states by the Democrats made no sense to them. That is perhaps where thought needs to be focused if change is to be made. Currently, we all must acknowledge, the voters have given the GOP control of 34 of our 50 state legislatures, both houses of Congress, and The White House,
That Democrat party platform needs some revision!
26
@Penseur, I couldn't agree more about the failure of the Democrats (I am one) in 2018. I'm flabbergasted about the unwillingness of Democrats to acknowledge this; they are still stuck in some kind of 2016 time warp, still hung up on the awfulness of President Trump and who-knows-what else.
But maybe there's hope. I'm out here in Wisconsin, and our wonderful Democratic Senator, Tammy Baldwin, is sometimes considered the most liberal of all 100 senators. So I'm sure she is a target of the Republicans and their billionaire masters, especially after President Trump won our state in his narrowest victory. But Tammy's TV ads have been great—they're all about economic issues and anticipate the Republican attacks on her. So in the polls she leads her Republican opponent, who has had to reluctantly pledge allegiance to President Trump. And in the process our long-term Republican governor may have gotten caught up in all of this and is trailing in the polls. So there's some hope.
15
@Penseur - However, HRC did get three million more votes than Trump, even with acute Republican gerrymandering and overt Russian interference. The message wasn't scrambled. The deck was stacked.
9
Once again, the so-called president will walk into a situation about which he knows and understand absolutely nothing.
32
Stop the world, I want to get off!!! Every time Donald Trump opens his mouth, he creates mayhem or as Mr. Rick Wilson’s book title reads, “Everything Trump Touches Dies”. Even a unconnected citizen observer like me cringes whenever our president speaks, particularly in settings such as the U.N.
Another very disturbing issue is that the meetings Pres. Trump holds with adversarial world leaders such as Kim and Putin, which are black holes. Even his national security team doesn’t know everthing he says or promises in those meetings. Whenever Donald Trump starts a sentence with “People don’t realize”, it is a glaring indication of how unprepared and unfit he is to do his job.
25
Like having your Kindergarten Kid upset the World order calling all your friends enemies and the worst actors his new best friends.
8
All these leaders: Kim, Putin, Rouhani and others have been at this a long time. Trump (and his supporters-forget about his advisers) think that a guy who never played even minor league baseball can step into the batters box and hit home runs against the best pitchers. Because he tells his supporters he can. And when he strikes out on three pitches, he goes on twitter and tells the world they were doctoring the baseball and should be thrown out of the sport. He never takes batting practice. He won't listen to the coaches. He degrades the other hitters who could help him, even the ones on his own team. Not for a second can I understand how anyone can look at Trump and decide he is a genius and the best negotiator on the world stage. Simply because he tells them he is. Face it: When the people across the table are just like you: arrogant, narcissistic, ravenous for power, and have been at it for years, you had better have your facts together, have studied history, and are willing to think three moves ahead if you are going to negotiate with them. If you sat there and couldn't believe what you were seeing from your opponent, the FIRST thought that would cross your mind is: this will be like taking candy from a baby. The parents may be watching him all the time to try and prevent him from getting taken, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out he is giving up the candy under the hi-chair tray. .
178
For once, Trump is uncannily and inadvertantly changing the mores of diplomacy - long duressed by extreme caution and meaninglessness.
5
The "meaninglessmess" is still there, right? Actually, so isn't the caution? "Now I sanction you; now I don't." "Now I release the coded messages; now I don't." Nothing new here. Enemies and allies alike are waiting this shmo out.
10
President Trump's promise was to take on the world for the little guy. Members of his base are tired of him chiseling away at the foundations he guaranteed he would explode with what amounts to a toothpick. I can think of no place like the UN for him to launch his mission on an international scale. When I look at it, the world is pretty much what it was 2 years ago or 20 years ago. Oh, with maybe a few expletives undeleted and some people shifting uncomfortably in their seats. But as I see it, no scores have been settled in any resounding manner as promised. It is still all about rich guys getting richer. And, to be honest, Trump is basically a huge bore with no plan beyond telling some people off if they irritate him. He is behaving like the know-nothing fan who shouts from the sidelines. But you're THE GUY, Donnie. Get in the game. Bear in mind that obnoxious fans are ejected from venues from time to time and some TV shows are not renewed.
19
Add this to what Omarosa, Anonymous, and Woodward describe. True patriots, who genuinely care about their country, would have invoked the 25th Amendment a year ago.
40
Even Trump can do the right thing, by accident.
We have no business messing with North Korea. The more belligerent we are with them, the more resources they pour into their nuclear program. Fifty years of threats has left them with both warheads and missiles.
There is no military solution to this problem. Dropping nukes there would cause China to retaliate with nukes, which would bring in Russia, etc. destroying the world. A conventional attack would be met by the Chinese throwing world trade into a great depression and likely starting WWIII.
Beijing is only 400 miles from NK. NK should be their problem.
When the U.S. gets invoked in NK it only helps the Kims unite their citizens against a foreign enemy.
I'm all for calling out Republican hypocrisy and incompetence, but let's keep our eye on the nuclear footfall and put country, sanity, and peace over party.
19
Trump at the UN is inconsequential. He will spew his narcissistic rhetoric and his blustering. The audience reaction will break down into several categories:
1. Western democracies, Japan and Australia will roll their eyes, ask themselves again how Americans could vote such a man into office, Europeans will reflect on their own nationalist uprisings and all will cross their fingers that Trump will only rant and not do anything.
2. The non Iranian theocracies, that is the Sunnis and the Israelites, will be very supportive and comment sagely on Trump's correct understanding of the situation.
3. Iran's leadership will bifurcate. Rouhani's sect will castigate Trump, perhaps walk out of the General Assembly, protest their innocence, point to their adherence to the accords and denounce the perfidy of Trump. Khamenei's Guardsters will rant their defiance, threaten to shut down the straits or vaporize Isreal and try to find Trump's money laundering service for Putin's band of oligarchs.
4. Putin and Xi will watch the audience, note where they can find opportunities to further divide the US from its allies, note where they can find opportunities to further their own goals of empire and make some sage nationalist comments.
Then Trump will go home. His apologists will fawn over him and tell him how great he is. His propagandists will denounce all Americans who criticize his performance. Melania will lock her doors. Trump will tweet about Mueller's witch hunt.
128
@TDurk
Good Summary! Shakespearean tragedy in the making.
2
TDurk, you need to write OP's for major news outlets! Spot on speculation with a minimum of adjectives.
1
Your article points to Trump's "conviction that he can outmaneuver any leader." Can anyone point to a single leader he has outmaneuvered since taking office? The article provides plenty of evidence that Kim Jong-un has outmaneuvered Trump so far and others such as Putin, Sisi of Egypt and Salman of Saudi Arabia have also outsmarted him, largely by the simple use of flattery.
66
@Bruce A Very true/ Trump is easily maneuvered by flattery. It's pathetic.
9
@Bruce A - Correct. Donald Trump couldn't outmaneuver his way out of a paper bag. You may recall when Trump was asked how he'd handle the Helsinki meeting with Putin. Trump, of course, had no plan and was too lazy to create one. Instead he predicted success and explained that he'd make magical things happen by "Using my touch. My feel. It's what I do." We saw the result. What an absurd buffoon the man is. No wonder world leaders so easily play and manipulate the ignorant clown.
22
I do not know what it is called when one mixes ignorance and stupidity with unabashed narcissism; but whatever it is, Trump’s picture should be beside it in the dictionary.
123
Same photo of POTUS in two completely different articles on the same day?
2
And not a well composed and contrived photo.
1
In all honesty I mistook it for the crosshairs of a firearm the first time I looked at. Here’s hoping that the NYTimes hasn’t hired an expert in Behavioral Control Through Image Selection and Manipulation!
Those same officials are afraid to use their names publicly. So it seems cowards stick together when it comes to power.
7
Lots of words which all boil down to this: The President is a fool. And they know it. And they do nothing, because they think he serves their longer term goals.
79
One thing Trump has achieved is to destroy any remaining credibility in Americas place on the world stage.
The sight of him grovelling to the Saudis for more oil must have had certains nations in hysterics.
He is a rogue elephant. A pretty stupid one at that.
107
@Richard Bradley
Stop confusing stupidity with blatant corruption.
Trump is not president because he is stupid. He is president because he knows how to manipulate corporate mass media.
Trump came back from NK talking about the beautiful resorts that could be built on their beautiful beaches.
15
NYT, don't the last paragraph and the Iran tweet put paid (in addition other reasons we can see and hear with our own eyes and ears) to your whole "yeah, not much chance this year unlike last that he does something dangerously unpredictable" thesis.
1
Not to mention the NY Times readership fearing Trump will not come off as the crazy they'd like to believe ... and may even -- egads! -- come off as articulate and statemanlike. What a disconnect that would be.
2
@JW
Lol. No one outside of the Party of Trump has any fear that Trump would "come off as articulate and statemanlike."
That's the last thing that comes to our minds.
What we fear is that he will give away the store, while being inarticulate and rude.
Rolling on the floor crying
16
JW, nope, not really. Thought nvr crossed our minds.
14
@JW Is this satire? Please provide even ONE example of DJT being articulate and statesmanlike for us to ponder.
11
You don't have to be clairvoyient to make a very good assumption that this will not go well.
31
The world is in a better state than it was 2 years ago and optimism for 2 more years is bottomless. Let Trump be Trump. So far it is working.
4
Working for who? The 1%? Racists?Misogynists? The tRump family and associated mobsters?
Just who else is this working for?
25
our fall is bottomless. wake up!
17
@Girish Kotwal Excuse me if I have somehow missed the optimism that is bottomless. From everyone I talk to these days the only thing that appears bottomless about Trump is the depth to his depravity, his ability to lie, and his willingness to divide this country and only govern for his shrinking ignorant base!
37
The richest and most powerful nation in the world is being led by a mercurial, demented child and we are still trying to decide how this will all go. It makes you wonder who the most delusional among us really is.
66
With little diplomatic acumen and grasp of international relations Trump is likely to prove the proverbial bull in the China shop when it comes to his presence in the UNGA session.
34
Trump makes me nervous, no matter what he is doing. His ignorance is a great danger to everyone.
97
@Glenn
Ignorant is a good description of Trump.
It is different from stupid. Trump is brilliant at manipulating the media.
But he is ignorant of the Constitution, the law and what makes America great.
9
Please, please stop informing the Trump administration that the thing they are going to do is the same thing Obama did in 2009 or something. The only thing besides himself that moves Trump is the chance to destroy something done by Obama.
52
@Beth Glynn
That begs the question; should things done by Obama be destroyed?
@MLH
The premise of your question probably says it all. Why should a thing be destroyed based on who did it? Either the thing was worth doing, or it was not. If a serial killer somehow found a cure for cancer, surely we would not abandon that.
And to be clear, we should still act to punish wrongdoing, of course.
2
The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people of low ability have illusory superiority and mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is. Narcissists would be susceptible to this.
76
Ratings, ratings, ratings. That’s all Cadet Bonespurs has ever been interested in. Whatever he feels will draw the most attention to himself and get him the biggest ratings and the cheers and adulation of his reprehensible base is what he will do. It’s just the next stop on the “Never Ending Tour” of campaign-like appearances.
45
@William Flynn Almost as many comeback tours as Cher!
2
@William Flynn
Notice that this is unconstitutional behavior by a president. He is supposed to be doing the People's business not drawing attention to himself.
Trump's inability to focus on faithfully executing the law makes him unfit for office, anger especially unfit to be making Supreme Court nominations.
Democrats, do something!
3
Maybe his car will have a flat tire, or run out of gas. Or maybe all the hotels nearby are booked. Or maybe he'll have a tummy ache and have to cancel.
Or maybe, all the other diplomats from all the U.N. members will call in sick.
One can hope!
37
@cherrylog754
Maybe the Democrats will start actually opposing the Party of Trump instead of begging for compromise from a party that hasn't compromised sombre the 1980s.
By the way hope is only useful to those that have no agency. If I have fallen and I can't get up, and I can't crawl to the phone, then I hope someone will pick me up.
For a political party to rely on hope is pathetic. You don't make change through hope. You make change through action.
Free humans do something.
1
@cherrylog754
Maybe the entire General Assembly will walk out as he approaches the podium.
Well it’s obvious at this point that the guy has the memory of a fruit fly and the sense of self of an 8-year old. He’s so insecure all you have to do is say something nice to him and he’ll give you the world.
95
White House officials advising our allies to ignore tweets coming from our president and north Korea’s leader feeling confidant he has sympathetic partner in him. This is what has been accomplished in 20 months, this is how far we’ve fallen
72
no way for trump to win...too crude or too soft...no t-vote here but a growing disappointment in the personal attacks, which cost the presidency respect and the press credibility.
if you'e looking for too much of "the opposite" try Obama's (two votes from here, alas) promise to be "more flexible" after his election.
1
@ecco
Take heart. For 8 years, there was no way for Obama to win with the Republicans. Despite the fact it tied his hands on many major issues, he still managed to serve it out with the respect of the press and the rest of the world.
If Trump is half the man O was, he’ll be fine. However...
25
@Jamesalas,
trump may be fine but we will not recover so easily from the habits of vilification that have replaced the kind of cogent opposition, the progressive alternatives, that would have denied him the election in the first place and would make us the preferred alternative for the future.
By now it’s obvious that the long-term ramifications of any of Trump’s “deals” are of no consequence to him. As long as the Diva in Chief can follow up some global posturing and bloviating by holding a red-state pep rally to proclaim to his credulous cultists that he’s achieved something, thus winning that day’s news cycle, he’s accomplished his mission. And we all know how “mission accomplished” turns out.
149
@Tom Heintjes. To the best of my knowledge, not one completed ‘deal’ to replace the cancelled NAFTA pact or any other trade agreement has been accomplished between the United States and another country since the tearing up of these agreements has occurred.
6
I do not know why Mr. Abe looked on, expressionless. But he did the same when Mr. Putin abruptly suggested him signing a peace treaty between Russia and Japan, not soon but before the end of this year. (Before settling the territorial dispute. Back in Japan he was criticized for not making a protest by opposition leaders, especially by the communist leader, as a traitor!) In my opinion this, his being lost in an abrupt turn of discussions, is the only amicable trait of Mr. Abe. I hope he will acquiesce Mr Trump's enthusiasm of ending the Korean war, which is certainly a great news for most of sensible Japanese.
@Aki: One must look further into Trump's boasts; most of them are false. There is no proof that Trump has accomplished anything of substance with North Korea or any other state for that matter.
67
A person who does everything through gut instinct alone is the worst strategist. Where is any strategy in anything this man does or has ever done? His real supporters have been the markets, they keep pumping the numbers hoping he has some strategy. He has no strategy.
97
@Alex Considering Trump's eating habits, perhaps he's overdue for either a probiotic or a high colonic.
2
With Haley, Pompeo and Bolton to advise him and Kelly to validate it, what do you expect?
106
““I will Chair the United Nations Security Council meeting on Iran next week!”
Once again, me, me, me. Any advisors concerned about a Trump “reversal” on diplomacy have misplaced their worries. He’ll never be diplomatic, he’ll never understand the intricacies, and he’ll never do anything that is in the best interests of the country.
He’s a child - nay, a menace - in an adult’s world.
255
"despite evidence that Mr. Kim continues to build a nuclear arsenal"
We have not made a deal yet. We just went from confrontation to talking. That's good, but it isn't the end. They don't give us what we want until the part where we make the deal.
It is outrageous to complain that they are still building a nuclear arsenal, when we haven't even offered yet any deal to stop them.
The "danger" is that Trump will make a deal with Kim, and will stop the nuclear arsenal, and without the desired war?
The terms of this article adopt the purest neocon propaganda, the thinking that led to the Iraq War. Same people, same ideas.
13
The writer of the article points that out because Trump has claimed the opposite, which is false.
17
@Rob -- I re-read it, and don't see that. It is critical of Trump, but from the perspective of hitting the North harder in order to get everything for nothing, not finishing a deal with the North.
@Mark Thomason
"This week, he returns to trumpet the overture he has since made to the North Korean leader, whom he now calls “very honorable,” despite evidence that Mr. Kim continues to build a nuclear arsenal."
Implicit in this statement is Kim's "promise" to cease proliferation of nuclear weapons, and Trump's continual claim, despite evidence, of a successful summit with NK because of this promise, among others.