Nikki Haley Takes Veiled Swipe at Obama In Statement to United Nations
Rusty Weiss
|
Nowhere is the difference between President Obama and President Trump more obvious than in a recent statement made by Ambassador Nikki Haley to the United Nations.
Whether intentional or not, Haley’s comment spells out the entirety of what separates both men and their view of how to govern and conduct foreign policy.
The State Department has released their annual report detailing the voting records of member nations. The report indicates that countries are not voting alongside the United States at a very high rate, despite our country being the leading contributor to the UN budget.
In her response, Haley cites current numbers with those from 2016, Obama’s last full year in office.
She said (emphasis mine), “That’s because we care more about being right than popular and are once again standing up for our interests and values.”
Being right or being popular. Trump versus Obama in a nutshell.
Nikki Haley warned she’d be “taking names” of countries that do not have “our back.”
A newly released annual report on voting records at the U.N., tells us who exactly is in America’s corner – and who is not. https://t.co/KU6qAWfRrL
— MAGAPatriot🇺🇸Steve (@RealMAGASteve) May 1, 2018
Haley outlined the fact that the United States contributes to the UN budget at a much higher rate than the three next contributors combined. She also noted that the drop in alignment with the U.S. is because the administration is no longer willing to be run over by other nations, and is instead looking out for America once again.
“The American people pay 22 percent of the UN budget – more than the next three highest donor countries combined,” Haley railed. “In spite of this generosity, the rest of the UN voted with us only 31 percent of the time, a lower rate than in 2016. That’s because we care more about being right than popular and are once again standing up for our interests and values.”
According to a State Department press release, the 10 nations who are at odds with the U.S. most often are Zimbabwe, Burundi, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Bolivia, and South Africa.
Of those, South Africa and Syria lead the way with $100 million and $72 million in American aid respectively.
That’s not a list that countries are going to want to be on. Haley and the administration are taking note of who exactly is defying American interests.
“When we arrived at the UN last year, we said we would be taking names, and this list of voting records speaks for itself,” she said. “President Trump wants to ensure that our foreign assistance dollars – the most generous in the world – always serve American interests, and we look forward to helping him see that the American people are no longer taken for granted.”
While the number of countries voting against the United States has increased since Obama’s last year in office, it’s sure to change once aid starts getting cut off.
“Let them vote against us; we’ll save a lot,” Trump famously announced. “We don’t care.”
Do you agree that Trump is more concerned about being right than popular? Share your thoughts below!