In his first four months in office, President Donald Trump has shaken America’s democratic foundations at home and abandoned a powerful bipartisan commitment to human rights. Seemingly forgotten is the legacy of Ronald Reagan, who, in his first Inaugural Address, pledged that America would “be the exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope” for oppressed populations around the world.
Trump seems indifferent to, and at times disdainful of, this deeply rooted global commitment. He begs off mentioning human rights publicly, as he did on Sunday, in Riyadh, where he spoke to Arab and Muslim leaders from around the world. “We are not here to lecture,” he said. “We are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be, or how to worship. Instead, we are here to offer partnership—based on shared interests and values—to pursue a better future for us all.”
But Trump has developed a habit of embracing those whose values are antithetical to our own. He repeatedly expresses admiration for the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. “I do respect him,” Trump told Bill O’Reilly, in February. “But he’s a killer,” O’Reilly said. “There are a lot of killers,” Trump replied. “We’ve got a lot of killers. What, do you think our country’s so innocent?”
In early April, Trump welcomed to the White House the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, a leader who has locked up tens of thousands of his political opponents, decimated the human-rights community, and severely undermined Egypt’s democratic institutions. In their Oval Office meeting, Trump enthusiastically embraced Sisi, calling him “somebody that’s been very close to me from the first time I met him.”
In late April, Trump reached out to Rodrigo Duterte, the mercurial leader of the Philippines, who has invoked Hitler’s mass extermination of Jews as a model for how he would like to dispose of drug dealers and addicts. In what White House aides called a “very friendly conversation,” Trump congratulated Duterte for doing “ an unbelievable job on the drug problem,” and invited him to visit.
And, last month, Trump called President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, of Turkey, to congratulate him for winning a much-disputed referendum that will solidify his autocratic rule and further erode the country’s democratic institutions. Since a failed coup attempt last July, Erdoğan has sacked academics and thousands of judges and other public officials. Earlier this month, Trump welcomed Erdoğan to the White House—a visit that was marred by an attack on peaceful demonstrators outside the Turkish Embassy by his security agents.
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May 30, 2017
TRUMP ABANDONS THE HUMAN-RIGHTS AGENDA
by Nhan Quyen • [Human Rights]
By Michael Posner, The New Yorker,
In his first four months in office, President Donald Trump has shaken America’s democratic foundations at home and abandoned a powerful bipartisan commitment to human rights. Seemingly forgotten is the legacy of Ronald Reagan, who, in his first Inaugural Address, pledged that America would “be the exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope” for oppressed populations around the world.
Trump seems indifferent to, and at times disdainful of, this deeply rooted global commitment. He begs off mentioning human rights publicly, as he did on Sunday, in Riyadh, where he spoke to Arab and Muslim leaders from around the world. “We are not here to lecture,” he said. “We are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be, or how to worship. Instead, we are here to offer partnership—based on shared interests and values—to pursue a better future for us all.”
In early April, Trump welcomed to the White House the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, a leader who has locked up tens of thousands of his political opponents, decimated the human-rights community, and severely undermined Egypt’s democratic institutions. In their Oval Office meeting, Trump enthusiastically embraced Sisi, calling him “somebody that’s been very close to me from the first time I met him.”
In late April, Trump reached out to Rodrigo Duterte, the mercurial leader of the Philippines, who has invoked Hitler’s mass extermination of Jews as a model for how he would like to dispose of drug dealers and addicts. In what White House aides called a “very friendly conversation,” Trump congratulated Duterte for doing “ an unbelievable job on the drug problem,” and invited him to visit.
And, last month, Trump called President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, of Turkey, to congratulate him for winning a much-disputed referendum that will solidify his autocratic rule and further erode the country’s democratic institutions. Since a failed coup attempt last July, Erdoğan has sacked academics and thousands of judges and other public officials. Earlier this month, Trump welcomed Erdoğan to the White House—a visit that was marred by an attack on peaceful demonstrators outside the Turkish Embassy by his security agents.