Donald Trump is back in his hometown for a full week of meetings surrounding the convening of the United Nations General Assembly. The president’s anticipated speech before the GA isn’t until Tuesday, but Trump has a packed schedule starting Monday, including bilateral meetings with the leaders of Israel, Egypt, South Korea, Japan, Afghanistan, and Jordan.
Trump will also hold a “working dinner” with leaders from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Panama to address reaching a resolution to the crisis in Venezuela. The president will be pushing for a “restoration of democracy” in the country, according to administration officials, and will announce his plans for the United States to join the regional Lima Declaration, a bloc of nearly 20 nations in the Americas opposed to the dictatorial regime of Nicolas Maduro.
What about the United Nations itself? Expect a theme from Trump this week: That the United Nations not only needs to reform but is already on the path—thanks to Trump. United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley gave a preview of this message on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday.
“I mean, I think we saw a United Nations where the United States was giving over 25 percent of the funding and was being utterly disrespected and a United Nations that was bashing Israel every chance they get, a United Nations that talked a lot, but didn’t have a lot of action. And now we can say, it is a new day at the U.N. What you are now seeing is the Israel-bashing has become more balanced. You’ve got a United Nations that’s action-orientated,” said Haley. “And you also have a United Nations that is totally moving towards reform.”
Mark It Down—“Well, I’m not going to be asked, because Rex Tillerson is not going anywhere.” – U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, when asked if she would accept the job as secretary of State, September 17, 2017.
Mueller Watch—A great New York Times scoop that demonstrates two things: the acrimony among the two camps of lawyers helping defend President Trump, and the way in which Washington can be a very small town:
Trump Tweet of the Day
I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night. Asked him how Rocket Man is doing. Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 17, 2017
Here’s a question we didn’t expect to be pondering this past weekend: Will President Trump decide to keep America in the Paris climate accords after all?
The question was sparked by a Saturday Wall Street Journal report that quoted a top European Union climate official saying the United States “will not renegotiate the Paris Accord,” but will instead “review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement.”
Trump announced in June that America would leave the international pact despite fierce opposition from some White House allies, arguing that the deal was “less about the climate and more about other countries gaining a financial advantage.”
“I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” the president said.
Press secretary Sarah Sanders quickly moved to deny the report Saturday evening.
Our position on the Paris agreement has not changed. @POTUS has been clear, US withdrawing unless we get pro-America terms.
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) September 16, 2017
But on Sunday, White House officials were more coy, signaling that the Trump administration might be open to a compromise deal that asked less of the United States economically.
“The president said he is open to finding those conditions where we can remain engaged with others on what we all agree is still a challenging issue,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told CBS’s John Dickerson. “I think the plan is for Director Cohn to consider other ways in which we can work with partners in the Paris climate accord. We want to be productive. We want to be helpful.”
Speaking to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, National Security advisor H.R. McMaster said Trump had “left the door open” to renegotiating the deal.
“The president’s objection to Paris was not that he’s against the environment or the climate,” McMaster said. “If you go back to his speech, he said, we are renewing our commitment to have the cleanest air, the cleanest water, to address issues associated with the environment and global warming.”
On Sunday night, a White House official declined to comment further. Deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters simply reiterated to THE WEEKLY STANDARD that there had been “no change” in the U.S. position of withdrawing “unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favorable to our country.”
Is the pile-on on ESPN fair or not? Jason Gay at the Wall Street Journal offers a balanced take on the problems facing the cable sports network, including which ones are overblown. Whatever Gay’s other arguments, this strikes me as correct: “I can’t say it more loudly: cable viewers are not cutting the cord merely on ESPN—they’re cutting it entirely. It’s a massive technological and behavioral shift from which no segment of the entertainment industry is immune.”
Song of the Day—“Rocket Man” by William Shatner.
