Opening of the UN General Assembly – Trump gives the strongman and attacks China

That this 75th UN General Assembly would be different from all the previous ones was evident, above all, on the streets of New York. Typically half or part of Midtown Manhattan is closed when leaders from around the world come to town to attend the annual United Nations Convention. This year, however, due to the pandemic, no one personally traveled to the East River to the UN building, the speeches came off the tape. Outside, traffic flowed in an unusually peaceful manner, while inside the meeting room delegates were listening to a harsh video message from the President of the United States, Donald Trump.

It took almost 20 seconds before he first described the corona virus as the “China virus.” He launched a radical attack on Beijing, blaming the country for the spread of the virus. His handling of the crown crisis is Trump’s biggest problem in the current election campaign. There is evidence that he minimized risk against his better judgment, that he tried to ignore the crisis at best and lie at worst. 200,000 people have died in the United States as a result of Covid-19, and the question arises as to whether it could not have been significantly fewer if the president had acted earlier. That should be the main reason why Trump now used the United Nations stage to fire a broadside at China.

China pollutes the sea and fishes too much

Having assured him that a vaccine would soon be available, that the virus would be defeated and that a period of prosperity and peace would then begin, it turned into an attack on China, which was harsh by his standards. “In the early days of the virus, China banned domestic travel, but allowed flights to leave the country and infect the world,” the president said. “The Chinese government and the World Health Organization, which is in fact controlled by China, have falsely stated that there is no person-to-person transmission.” These statements culminated in the demand: “The United Nations must hold China accountable.”

As if that still didn’t make it clear enough that Trump is seeking an open showdown with China, he explained that Beijing is polluting the seas with plastic, guilty of overfishing, and poisoning the world’s waters with mercury. Over and over again he pronounced the word China as if he were spitting gum on the ground. Trump’s speech was marked by aggressiveness and contempt. He let these passages culminate in the phrase: “All they want is to punish America.”

After that angry start, Trump changed his tone to clear up his second concern. The attack on China is likely mainly due to electoral reasons – you can present yourself to your base as a strong man and deny blame for the many Covid-19 deaths. The second part was about a personal concern, you could say: a vanity project. Trump spoke about how the United States had become a peacemaker under his leadership.

He referred, among other things, to the Abraham Agreement signed a few days ago in front of the White House, which aims to normalize relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The United States had conveyed in the agreement that it could indeed represent a historic breakthrough. Trump said other Arab states wanted to join. “No more blood on the sand,” he said, “I hope these days are over.” It is the dawn of a new Middle East.

Trump spoke the word China as if he were spitting gum on the ground.

He also said that he had mediated between Serbia and Kosovo and was also in the process of bringing peace to Afghanistan. Here he is particularly committed to women’s rights. He took the motive that he was an advocate for women’s rights around the world, which, in view of his many documented derogatory statements about women, was almost a reinvention of himself. Sometimes it seemed as if he believed that they did not read any UN newspaper and did not see what was going on in the world.

The speech was started by Kelly Craft, the United States Ambassador to the UN. She said: “I am introducing someone who has the central objective of the United Nations at his heart: peace.” In fact, she meant her boss by that, and that established the theme of the Nobel Peace Prize. It’s clear, she said, that world leaders listened carefully when Trump spoke. Two years ago the President of the United States was laughed at in the General Assembly when he bragged too much, but that was probably not what she meant. Finally, as if she were not the UN ambassador but Trump’s campaign manager, she said, “President Donald J. Trump has kept his promises to the American people and the world is a more peaceful place.”

“God bless the United Nations.”

In fact, Trump was expected to speak primarily about sanctions against Iran. The fact that he positioned himself against China with such intensity came as a surprise. However, his lobbying for the Nobel Prize no longer surprises anyone. He showed that Trump takes it very seriously by closing his speech with the words: “God bless the United Nations.”