(This caricature of Trump is by DonkeyHotey.)Donald Trump has again demonstrated that he has no concept of how diplomacy works, or how to treat the nations of the world to keep them supporting this country.
Recently, Trump did a very foolish thing. He said the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and said the U.S. would be moving it's embassy from the real capital (Tel Aviv) to Jerusalem.
This action pleased Israel's leader (Netanyahu), but dismayed almost every other world leader. They understand that it's not just Jews that consider Jerusalem a holy city, but also muslims and christians. They also understood that Trump's ridiculous action made any negotiated peace in the Middle East much more difficult.
This week, the United Nations General Assembly debated a condemnation of Trump declaring Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. Instead of just disagreeing with the resolution, the narcissist living in the White House (who cannot stand to be criticized or disagreed with) decided to try to threaten the world in an attempt to bully them into agreeing with the U.S. position.
Here's how NBC News describes that effort to bully:
Haley, in a scathing statement before the vote, said the U.S. would remember the vote and raised the issue of American financial support for the U.N. "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. We will remember it when we are called upon to once again make the world's largest contribution to the United Nations," Haley said. "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," she said. "No vote in the United Nations will make any difference on that." Thursday’s special session was held at the request of several Arab nations after the U.S. voted on Monday to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution requiring Trump to rescind his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the official capital of Israel. The other 14 members on the Security Council voted in favor of the resolution. On Tuesday, Haley had tweeted that "the U.S. will be taking names" of the countries that vote to support the resolution and that Trump had asked her to report back on the nations "who voted against us." She also penned a letter to most of the 193 U.N. member states, in which she warned the U.S. would retaliate against countries that vote in favor of the resolutions. Trump, during a Cabinet meeting in Washington on Wednesday, said: "We're watching those votes. Let them vote against us." "We'll save a lot," he said. "We don't care." Trump's threats did not work. The U.N. General Assembly voted for the condemnation resolution 128 to 9 (with 35 nations abstaining). What will Trump do now. Will he refuse to pay the U.S. share of United Nations funding? Will he try to financially punish the 128 nations that vote to condemn his action? It would be insane to do either. That would just make Trump (and the U.S.) more of a pariah among the world's nations -- and convince even our traditional allies that there is now a dearth of any kind of leadership in the U.S., and they must cut ties for their own good. But then, we do have a seemingly insane person in the White House right now.
