Unilateralism

With multilateralism increasingly in the past and an international system riddled with crisis, President Trump addressed the United Nations General Assembly on September 23. Despite his largely unenthusiastic delivery, the content of Trump’s speech was, to put it casually, absolutely bonkers. This does not mean it shouldn’t be taken seriously. Trump began with the standard triumphant rhetoric about his return to the presidency that marks many of his speeches: The United States is coming out of four years of chaos, no more “invasion at the border,” there’s never been a better economy. These claims contrast with a starkly different reality. The president is in a moment of significant weakness with a historically low approval rating, economic indicators increasingly signalling disaster, and important cases of resistance to his agenda from Los Angeles to D.C. to Chicago.