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When President Donald Trump first climbed to the iconic diplomatic bully pulpit that is the United Nations’ General Assembly Hall in 2017, he was still a relatively new President and a surprise one at that. His nerves appeared to show as he began addressing a room of fellow world leaders. Much of that speech was littered with the same diplomatic dogma of Trump’s predecessors: a passing defense of Ukraine’s sovereignty, praise for global health initiatives like PEPFAR, and an eloquent defense of democracy.

“Authority and authoritarian powers seek to collapse the values, the systems, and alliances that prevented conflict and tilted the world toward freedom s

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