Pierce: Trump Managed to Sneak One More World Stage Embarrassment in Before the Buzzer

[babylonsister]

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a14479968/nikki-haley-un-jerusalem/


Trump Managed to Sneak One More World Stage Embarrassment in Before the Buzzer
Hey, U.N., what have you done for us lately?
By Charles P. Pierce
Dec 21, 2017


Victimology is baked so deeply into the American Right that you might as well try to take the yeast out of a store-bought loaf of rye bread as pry the phantom oppression out of the modern conservative mind. This was illustrated full-on Thursday when Nikki Haley, ambassador to the U.N. and long-lost Piranha sister, told the rest of the world that Uncle Sucker has left the building, pally.

Standing here today, being forced to defend sovereignty and the integrity of my country – the United States of America – many of the same thoughts have come to mind. The United States is by far the single largest contributor to the United Nations and its agencies. We do this, in part, in order to advance our values and our interests. When that happens, our participation in the UN produces great good for the world. Together we feed, clothe, and educate desperate people. We nurture and sustain fragile peace in conflict areas throughout the world. And we hold outlaw regimes accountable. We do this because it represents who we are. It is our American way.

And what thanks do we get?

But we’ll be honest with you. When we make generous contributions to the UN, we also have a legitimate expectation that our good will is recognized and respected. When a nation is singled out for attack in this organization, that nation is disrespected. What’s more, that nation is asked to pay for the “privilege” of being disrespected. In the case of the United States, we are asked to pay more than anyone else for that dubious privilege. Unlike in some UN member countries, the United States government is answerable to its people. As such, we have an obligation to acknowledge when our political and financial capital is being poorly spent.

Why is Dominica always picking on us, anyway?

We have an obligation to demand more for our investment. And if our investment fails, we have an obligation to spend our resources in more productive ways. Those are the thoughts that come to mind when we consider the resolution before us today. Instead, there is a larger point to make. The United States will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the General Assembly for the very act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation.

Oh, get a grip.

We will remember it when we are called upon to once again make the world’s largest contribution to the United Nations. And we will remember it when so many countries come calling on us, as they so often do, to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit. America will put our embassy in Jerusalem. That is what the American people want us to do, and it is the right thing to do. No vote in the United Nations will make any difference on that. But this vote will make a difference on how Americans look at the UN and on how we look at countries who disrespect us in the UN. And this vote will be remembered.

Not for nothing, but the reason the decision to move the embassy is so unpopular is not because we’re moving the embassy, but because the president* also recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s historic capital. That’s the match thrown into the powder magazine. In addition, countries exercise their rights as sovereign nations in destructive ways all the time. (And, in the past, when, say, Chile has exercised its sovereign rights in a way we didn’t like, we showed them what we thought of their sovereign rights as a nation.) I’m at a loss to see what good can come from all this angry whinging.

“I’m sorry, poor cholera-stricken Yemeni children. I know our good friends and allies are reducing your country to rubble, but your government voted the wrong way so UNICEF and UNESCO are going to have to pound sand. Speaking of pounding sand, you might want to duck.”

If this administration* feels so put upon by the rest of the world, let it have the guts to pull the country out of the U.N. entirely, and do it in the open, and not through clumsy threats and angry laments about the ingratitude of it all. Did we lose the vote in the General Assembly? Of course, we did, 128-65. You get someone dependent upon what you provide, and then you threaten to withhold it if that person doesn’t do exactly what you say. That’s not how a great democracy acts. It’s how drug dealers do business.

[spanone]

1. K&R...

[mcar]

2. The dotard and his minions are petty, childish cretins

[forgotmylogin]

20. So...he believes he's purchasing acquiescence

and if people don't agree he's unhappy with his purchase and wishes to storm out like he received bad service at a restaurant.

If he was mad, that would be one thing entirely, but saying in effect that the US's money is poorly spent on a body of United Nations when he's a narcissistic oligarch who subsists on petty flattery and sycophancy is incredibly embarrassing on the world stage.

I didn't vote for him, but it's embarrassing what the US has put in charge.

[Hekate]

3. Oh gods, yet again

[heaven05]

4. hope

well I hope the other nations will step up to the plate, make up a large percentage of shortfall, and tell haley and boypotus where they can put their threats..we have a bullying potus who is no better that a street thug drug dealer.

[iluvtennis]

18. Ditto

[smirkymonkey]

5. "America will put our embassy in Jerusalem. That is what the American people want us to do..."

Uh, no, it's not what the American people want you to do. It's what the Trump administration and the religious right-wing nut cases want you to do. They do NOT represent America. Fuck you, Nikki!

[Wednesdays]

6. "Do as we say, and nobody gets hurt"

[link:http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/ed2c0f87c0/texxon|

[NastyRiffraff]

7. Shorter Nikki Haley:

WHAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

[LudwigPastorius]

8. Trump, the textbook definition of the "Ugly American".

[OxQQme]

9. Oh, and btw

"One of my lawyers is a Jew."

This cabal is in a different league from street drug dealers.
That's petty stuff, comparatively speaking.
More like top mafia tactics.
"You no like my price? Watcha gonna do about it Goomba? I'll put you oughta bidness!"


PHUQUE!

Maybe Nancy Reagan's astrologer could step up and warn drumpf and his minions that the alignment
of Saturn and Sol will not be good for ur anus.

[gademocrat7]

10. Disgraceful behavior.

Chump and his cheerleader Nikki lack intelligence, decorum, diplomacy, and honesty.

[JohnnyRingo]

11. ...reading from a prepared statement.

Someday we'll find out who is actually pulling the strings in The White House. It's not Trump. he's not politically smart enough and has interest in doing neither the legwork nor homework of being president. It's obvious he'd rather be telling golf stories over lunch in Mara Lago. I don't think it's Kushner, Tillerson, or Pence either. It's someone we don't see through press releases, perhaps even a foreign entity.

I believe decisions of international politics are made by someone who saw a power vacuum within an inexperienced Executive Branch and filled the slot. Trump is like the Great and Mighty Oz, breathing fire and booming demands while telling us to ignore that man behind the curtain.

I thought Bush appointee John Bolton would go down history's worst UN ambassador, but we have a new contender who thinks she can walk into the UN and tell them we're running things from now on. Ask Bolton how that worked out when he tried it.

I'm still waiting to see an American Diplomat start banging a shoe on the podium. It'
s coming.

[MrPurple]

19. sounds like Steven Miller's writing

[Perseus]

12. The original reason why the USA contributes so much to the UN is

1. It allows the USA to have allies to help maintain World balance
2. Gives the USA a class 1 membership into the organization
3. Brings all countries that have similar ideologies together, countries who understand that together we are stronger.

What the republicans don't understand is that the USA has not bought and does not own the UN, and thus the UN does not have to do, agree with everything the USA wants/suggests.

The republicans are too narcissistic to understand that simple fact, they also feel they own the USA, which makes it very dangerous, a reason why we have started to see republicans start putting tax payers money in their pockets.

The USA is in for a rise with these crooks, someone better do something fast to get them out of power.

[longship]

13. Holy fucking shit! She's absolutely bonkers!

It's amazing that the other UN delegates didn't just grab her and throw her out on the street right then!

Actually an astounding thing to say at the UN. Jaw dropping astounding!

[Bob Loblaw]

14. "Nice little worldwide organization ya got here

It'd be a shame if something happened to it."

[AllyCat]

16. Thats what it sounds like she is saying

[world wide wally]

15. Trickle down foreign policy?

[madamesilverspurs]

17. Again.

.

[dae]

21. And if you dont think we will f**k you up take a look at Puerto Rico.

If we will do that to our own people...