UN sees the handwriting on the wall – opposes Trump

By Ronald Mortensen, Oct 24, 2016, Columnist for Utah Standard News

The United States funds 22% of the United Nation’s regular budget, 28% of its peacekeeping budget and pours still billions more into UN humanitarian assistance programs, special appeals and other UN initiatives.

In return, the United Nations uses the money provided by the U.S. to pay staff salaries, operational expenses, and run its programs. It also uses some of the funds to meddle in the elections and internal affairs of the United States.

If Donald Trump were to be elected president of the United States, the UN would be faced with the loss of billions of dollars of U.S. support and would no longer be free to intervene in the internal affairs of the United States without any negative consequences. Therefore, the UN is actively opposing Trump.

In mid-April, early September and again in mid-October 2016, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein (Jordan), spoke out against Trump. In late September, a Tweet calling on Americans to vote against Trump was sent out by an unknown party from a UN account.

In addition, in recent months the UN has called for reparations for African Americans because of slavery, condemned the United States for police violence and racial discrimination, criticized the U.S. for insufficient gun control, called for a review of “stand your ground laws” and faulted the U.S. for its use of the death penalty.

In an April speech in Cleveland, Ohio Zeid told those present that “…a front-running candidate to be President of this country [USA] declared, just a few months ago, his enthusiastic support for torture…. We have heard hateful slander of foreigners, and multiple [Republican] candidates declaring their support for extensive and intrusive surveillance of people based on their religious beliefs –vast and discriminatory systems to single out and discriminate against Muslims…. The ugly phantom of racial and religious division is flapping across the political landscape of this country [USA].”

In a September speech, Zeid accused Trump of “spreading humiliating racial and religious prejudice” and warned of a rise of populist politics in the United States and Europe that could turn violent. Zeid further accused Trump of using fear tactics similar to those employed by the Islamic State (ISIS).

In late September, a Tweet was sent by the UN News Center, the organization’s breaking news service, calling on Americans to vote against Trump.

Speaking in October, Zeid again declared that Trump’s views on vulnerable communities, including minorities, and support for the use of torture in interrogations was “deeply unsettling and disturbing.”

When the UN is challenged for its interference in U.S. elections and the internal affairs of the United States, it occasionally tries to contain the damage in order to protect its funding as it did when it quickly retracted the anti-trump Tweet.

However, the UN generally ignores criticism from Americans because it knows that it can count on its friends in the White House and Congress to ensure that its funding remains untouched.

Advocates and apologists for the UN point to the benefits it provides to the United States as justification for the billions of dollars poured into the organization despite the Anti-Americanism that runs throughout the UN and its agencies.

However, Trump is not one of the UN’s friends or apologists. According to Trump, “The United Nations is not a friend of democracy. It’s not a friend even to the United States of America….” And in April 2016, he questioned the effectiveness of the United Nations and of U.S. spending on it.

Therefore, the UN has reason to fear a Trump presidency because under a Trump administration, the UN would see sharp cuts in U.S. funding. This would lead to commensurate reductions in the UN’s staffing and operations and it would also sharply curtail the UN’s ability to intervene in the internal affairs of the United States.