Some things never change at the United Nations General Assembly. When its general debate convenes later this month, the first speaker will be the president of Brazil — as it always has been since 1955, a position won by the simple virtue of being the only nation willing to kick things off in the early years.
Next is the host country, the United States.
But this is where things get different in the age of pandemic. President Trump is expected to make a splash by being the only world leader to speak in person in the vast assembly hall. The rest will address the annual gathering by video. Either way, the hall’s 2,000 seats will sit mostly empty as COVID-19 chokes off international diplomacy.
The White House has not made an official announcement, but the U.S. permanent representative to the U.N. recently said that she hoped Trump would be the only world leader speaking in person.
And Trump himself has hinted he will attend.
“I think it better represents the country,” he told reporters at the White House recently.
Analysts say Trump has good reason to be there, even if speaking to an empty room. Most of his U.N. speeches are aimed squarely at his domestic base. This year, an election is looming.
Even so, other side benefits will be missing.
Last year, his New York schedule was packed with meetings with world leaders. On one day alone, he sat down with the prime minister of Pakistan, Poland’s president, the prime minister of Singapore, the president of Egypt, and the president of South Korea. He also found time for what aides called a 25-minute “pull-aside” with the prime minister of New Zealand.
Such sideline diplomacy will not happen this year. Organizers say they have informed delegations of the need to keep the numbers low at U.N. headquarters.
But for Trump and his team, a personal appearance brings multiple advantages.
A reset at his campaign, with new leadership and new tactics for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, has seen a renewal of the classic Rose Garden strategy, showcasing the power of the White House and all its trappings for maximum advantage.
“It is too good a stage not to use,” said a former White House official about attending the U.N.
In recent weeks, the president accelerated his use of executive orders and official duties, such as designating Wilmington, North Carolina, a World War II heritage city in the first week of September to illustrate the power of his office.
The U.N. offers a further chance to play the statesman while pushing his election message.
Richard Gowan, U.N. director for the International Crisis Group, said: “He has always pitched his General Assembly speeches at his U.S. audience, with lots of pithy one-liners for the news shows and Twitter.”
In 2017, amid growing tensions with North Korea, he deployed particularly Trumpian language in warning Kim Jong Un that his regime faced annihilation if it threatened the U.S.
“Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime,” he said.
A year later, he used the world’s most famous multilateral institution as a backdrop to reject globalism in all its forms. But the speech was perhaps best remembered for the giggles rippling through the hall when he said: “In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.”
This time around, the speech is expected to list not just foreign policy achievements, such as the normalizing of relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, the killing of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, and the increased defense spending of NATO members, but plans for a second term.
Gowan said he expected the president to be in full-bore America First mode, targeting China and its growing influence at the U.N.
“I suspect we will hear a lot about how the World Health Organization bowed to Chinese pressure in failing to alert the world to COVID,” he said.
“Trump will also want to do a bit of saber-rattling over Iran, calling out the Europeans for failing to back the U.S. effort to reimpose U.N. sanctions on Iran. He generally devotes a chunk of his UNGA speeches to attacks on Venezuela too, but may soft-peddle that given the U.S. failure to oust Maduro.”
While other nations will use the occasion to offer a quiet commitment to the U.N., they will also undoubtedly lobbing a few grenades at Trump himself.
“But he won’t be listening and won’t care,” said Gowan.
Even if he is the only world leader in New York.
