Trump insists on ‘America First.’ Who will follow?

By JOSH LEDERMAN,

President Donald Trump invited the question, and now the world must answer: If America insists on putting itself first, will anyone else follow?

Trump scolded and badgered in his United Nations debut. He declared parts of the planet are “going to hell.” Standing Tuesday before the iconic, green marbled General Assembly backdrop, he painted a grim picture of the globe as he sees it: teeming with crisis and conflict, delinquents and deadbeats.

Yet where most leaders use the occasion to call for cooperation, Trump insisted others should follow his example and “always put your countries first.”

“As long as I hold this office, I will defend America’s interest above all else,” Trump said at the General Assembly, where nations come to advance their collective interests.

Peppered throughout Trump’s speech were 21 references to “sovereignty,” the notion that countries have the right to do what is best for themselves, unencumbered by obligations from the outside. Trump said America didn’t expect others to share its traditions or “even systems of government,” an unsubtle reminder that democracy promotion is no longer the U.S. priority.

“We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example for everyone to watch,” Trump said.

Yet nations would be mistaken to assume Washington no longer carries a long list of demands. It does.

It’s that incongruity — between browbeating others to do more, and insisting everyone look out for themselves — that has perplexed nations struggling to decide how best to deal with the new American leader.

“In many ways, the speech was a continuation of his domestic ‘America First’ message,” said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University. “But he seems to like to punish people, to frighten people, to be a catalyst of chaos. If he doesn’t create the chaos he wants, he wants at least to be on the record saying, ‘I told you that would happen.'”

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