U.S. President Donald Trump kicks off the main session of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday alongside a rogue’s gallery of dictators, populist lectern-bangers and would-be autocrats.
The initial speaking order at the world’s top diplomatic gathering is a coincidence, and yet it serves as a vivid reminder of democracy’s declining fortunes around the world. It’s also already drawing attention to Trump’s repeated encouragement, and occasional emulation, of authoritarian leaders.
In Tuesday’s speech, Trump is expected to say that democracy should be supported, and to tout “American values and the American model.” The idea, according to an administration official, is to promote “a positive alternative to authoritarianism.”
Democracy watchers, remembering Trump’s past two U.N. cameos, are keeping their expectations low.
The U.N. General Assembly speaking schedule is arranged based on a combination of tradition, protocol and preferences, and it could change even in the last moments.
“I just hope his speech will surprise us by saying something positive and reaffirming about our commitment to democracy and human rights,” said Larry Diamond, a leading scholar of democracy at Stanford University. “I certainly will be looking to that, but I’m not holding my breath.”
Already, human rights campaigners are using Tuesday’s lineup to draw attention to what they say is a dangerous moment for freedom around the world.
“Rising authoritarianism is one of the gravest challenges that defenders of human rights face every day,” Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “It’s essential that world leaders push back against the lineup of anti-rights crusaders who will open this year’s U.N. General Assembly.”
And many of them are pointing the finger at Trump, who has largely cast aside the traditional role of U.S. presidents in speaking out in favor of democracy and human rights.
“Essentially, he has given a pass to authoritarian leaders around the world when it comes to their human rights abuses,” said David Kramer, a former top State Department official in the Republican administration of George W. Bush. “He focuses on trade, on economics, on security and rarely mentions democracy or human rights.”
The U.N. General Assembly speaking schedule is arranged based on a combination of tradition, protocol and preferences, and it could change even in the last moments. Brazil’s leader typically speaks first, followed by the U.S. president.
This year, the Brazilian president happens to be the recently elected Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing populist who has spoken admiringly of the dictatorship that once ruled in his country.
Bolsonaro has reinstated commemorations of the 1964 coup that ushered in a military regime until 1985. He’s also referred to that period of rule, which was marked by torture and repression, as “glorious.”
After Trump comes Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, a brutal dictator accused of overseeing massacres and imprisoning numerous political opponents. This past week, a rare spate of protests against Sisi broke out in Egypt; in response, hundreds have been arrested in a still unfolding crackdown.
Following Sisi is Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an elected leader who has increasingly consolidated power and tried to crush dissent.
The U.N. has long had a fraught relationship with autocratic governments in its membership.
While past American presidents have often cozied up to one autocrat or another, Trump has expressed his fondness for authoritarian leaders with a brazenness rarely employed by his predecessors.
He’s spoken of his “love” for North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, praised Russia’s Vladimir Putin as “strong,” downplayed Saudi Arabia’s killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, spoken warmly of China’s Xi Jinping and reportedly referred to Egypt’s Sisi as “my favorite dictator.” (On Monday, ahead of their bilateral meeting in New York, Trump called Sisi “my friend” and called him “a real leader” who has “done some things that are absolutely amazing in a short period of time.”)
Trump, who praised the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown as a private citizen, has largely resisted speaking out in support of protesters in Hong Kong now pushing for democratic reform amid growing encroachment from Beijing. At times, he’s used the crisis to praise Xi: “I have ZERO doubt that if President Xi wants to quickly and humanely solve the Hong Kong problem, he can do it,” Trump tweeted.
A German politician, speaking on condition of anonymity this week, said he increasingly hears people in his country refer to “Trump, China and Russia” in the same breath — lumping in the U.S. president with countries well down the autocratic path.
To critics of his leadership style, Trump’s appointment of his daughter and son-in-law to top government positions and his descriptions of media outlets as the “enemy of the people” are alarmingly similar to the actions of autocrats.
Going into the General Assembly, Trump stands accused of pressuring Ukraine’s leader to investigate the son of Joe Biden, the former vice president who is running to unseat him as president. Trump recently also tried to withhold U.S. aid dollars from Ukraine.
On Monday, Trump shrugged off the concerns. He claimed, without evidence, that Biden had done “a very bad, bad thing” when it came to his son’s business interests in Ukraine, and that his own moves were aimed at ensuring U.S. funds were spent appropriately.
“We’re supporting a country, so we want to make sure that country is honest,” Trump said.
Analysts, however, said if Trump tried to instigate an investigation of a political opponent, it was an out-of-bounds move.
“Many authoritarian leaders would recognize this president’s tactics as coming straight out of an authoritarian playbook,” said Andrea Kendall-Taylor, a former senior U.S. intelligence officer now with the Center for a New American Security.
What Trump doesn’t say or do also matters, critics say.
The president’s past two General Assembly speeches have focused much more on the value of national sovereignty; his mentions of democracy were narrow and mainly in reference to countries viewed as U.S. adversaries, such as Venezuela and Iran.
Some leaders often skip the gathering. Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi are expected to be no-shows again this year.
Even if Trump does speak extensively Tuesday about promoting democracy, his past actions and comments are likely to undermine his credibility on the issue, observers say. Also damaging to his credibility is how frequently Trump changes his mind.
For U.S. allies and partners, Trump “has been so unpredictable that they cannot any longer rely on him or the United States when it comes to important matters,” said Ivo Daalder, president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
What’s in little dispute is that democracy has suffered setbacks globally in recent years, the result of rising populist sentiments and crushed democratic rebellions, among other factors.
In a report released earlier this year, Freedom House, one of the most authoritative organizations tracking democracy, said “a total of 68 countries suffered net declines in political rights and civil liberties during 2018, with only 50 registering gains.”
It was the 13th consecutive year in which global freedom had declined, the U.S.-based group said.
Its report included a special assessment of the United States, arguing that democracy was on the wane. As one example, it noted that Republican-led Legislatures in Michigan and Wisconsin tried to strip powers from state executive branch offices won by Democrats.
The trend began well before Trump, mirroring a growing partisan divide in the U.S., but his “ongoing attacks on the rule of law, fact-based journalism, and other principles and norms of democracy threaten further decline,” the group said.
The U.N. has long had a fraught relationship with autocratic governments in its membership. The General Assembly is an annual gathering of all the world’s leaders, democratically elected or not.
Under diplomatic rules, even leaders the United States — the host country for U.N. headquarters in New York — has placed under sanctions are allowed to show up and speak during the General Assembly.
Under Trump, the U.S. has dragged its feet in issuing visas to officials from Iran, a country his administration deems a top threat. There are reports that some of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s aides were not granted visas, and that Rouhani’s own visa imposed strict conditions on his movements while in New York.
Some leaders often skip the gathering. Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi are expected to be no-shows again this year.
Also not expected to show up is one dictator Trump does not like: Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro.
The United States and several dozen other countries have declared they do not recognize Maduro as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, which is in dire humanitarian crisis because of Maduro’s alleged corruption and ruinous economic policies.
In Trump’s past speeches to the General Assembly, Venezuela has been one of the few countries whose government he has singled out for criticism on the issue of democracy and human rights, and he may do so again this year.
The president has also used Venezuela as a means of boosting his 2020 campaign message against Democrats, arguing they support the socialism that has failed in Caracas.
“The Venezuelan people are starving and their country is collapsing. Their democratic institutions are being destroyed. This situation is completely unacceptable and we cannot stand by and watch,” Trump said during his speech in 2017.
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