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NEW YORK – President Trump had announced Wednesday high-level trade talks between the United States and Japan, when a reporter shouted a question about Brett M. Kavanaugh's appointment to the Supreme Court.
"They get people out of the woods," Trump replied, hinting that Democrats were encouraging women to make false allegations of sexual misconduct. After taking a look at Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was sitting next to him, the president added with a laugh, "They could do it to anyone – except Prime Minister Abe, because that he is so pure.
The embarrassing joke – which simultaneously downplayed the serious allegations against Kavanaugh and unintentionally dragged the leader of a major American ally into this messy affair – clearly illustrates a dynamic that took place here this week as Trump sought to promote his political priorities. foreign to the UN. Assembly.
Time and time again, world leaders have been shattered and foreign policy issues lost in the midst of the daily, even hourly, spectacle of a president beaten and consumed by the White House's double crisis – Kavanaugh Rod J Rosenstein, who will meet with Trump on Thursday in Washington.
Trump made news on foreign affairs – highlighting new charges, with little evidence, that China had tried to interfere in the mid-term US elections and reinforce its rhetoric against the US. Iran regarding its destabilizing behavior in the Middle East.
And at a one-hour press conference to conclude the day devoted primarily to Kavanaugh, Trump addressed a number of international issues. He claimed to have rejected a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, with whom he quarrel over the trade; acknowledged that the pressure of the trade war against China could mean that President Xi Jinping no longer agrees with him; and asserted without proof that former President Barack Obama was about to start a war with North Korea.
He also said that US delegates who laughed at the beginning of his speech at the General Assembly on Tuesday did not show signs of disrespect.
"They were not making fun of me," said Trump. "They were laughing with me."
But unlike last year, when Trump used his first UN speech to rally the world in a "maximum pressure" campaign against North Korea, the president struggled this week to push forward his global agenda. the growing political problems in Washington.
Even in the moments when Trump was focused on his foreign policy agenda, like his Tuesday speech, analysts said they had trouble identifying a global strategy – other than the vague concept of "US sovereignty" that aimed to put other countries warn that the United States would reject the global pacts that the Trump administration finds heavy.
"He basically did a lot of things that he wanted to do – get out of the [Iran nuclear deal] and reach out to North Korea, "said Thomas Wright, Foreign Affairs Analyst at the Brookings Institution. "He sort of declared victory without doing too much. He went through everything and he lost his ideas. This is an interesting question of what he will do next, because in his mind all these problems are fundamentally solved.
Assists planned a busy route for Trump, including bilateral meetings on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and British Prime Minister Theresa May, as well as with Abe. Trump also chaired a two-hour meeting of the US Security Council to discuss the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
He called the council members in the order dictated by the custom of the United States of America and properly managed two unknown pronunciations – Equatorial Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire. The president remained visibly calm when Bolivian President Evo Morales, a former anti-American union leader, filed a lengthy complaint against US policy and concluded by denouncing Trump's unsophisticated immigration policy.
Morales said that it was immoral to detain "caged children".
Trump did not take the bait.
"Thank you, Mr. President," Trump replied, going to the next speaker.
Perhaps he held his fire for his most formidable adversaries. In the hour that followed, Trump launched a Twitter call against Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for Stormy Daniels, an adult video artist, as well as two women who filed a lawsuit against Kavanaugh.
In his tweetTrump called Avenatti a "third-class lawyer who is capable of making false accusations" and an "almost total life!"
For Abe, the bilateral meeting with Trump was a highlight. The Japanese Prime Minister has diligently appealed to Trump's ego in hopes of gaining political support, even though Trump has gone against Abe's wishes regarding trade and relations with North Korea.
The two leaders had dined at Trump Tower on Sunday night and celebrated Abe's 64th birthday two days earlier.
Trump announced that the two countries had agreed to open bilateral trade talks, a high priority for the president, who tried to force Tokyo to relax restrictions on the rice, beef and seafood markets. the Japanese rulers have long resisted.
Abe thanked Trump for his birthday and praised New York's "magnificent view" of the President's residence at Trump Tower.
But shortly thereafter, the president focused on attacking his Democratic rivals and Kavanaugh's accusers.
"It's a horrible con game," Trump said. "I think people are discovering it. . . . It's a shame.
Anne Gearan contributed to this report.
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