An Isolated America Under Donald Trump

He threatened it, but many people did not think that he would follow through with it, but he did.

Trump has formally started the process of withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO) and he did so in the middle of a global pandemic in which the U.S. has the most cases and most deaths in the world and that is something that we all should find unacceptable.

Trump has at times in his first term mentioned that he wanted for us to cancel our membership in WHO, but like what he often does, we had thought that he was just all talk and would not follow through with it. Sadly, he is following through with it and taking us out of the world leader in public health and during a time when we need their guidance the most.

This is not the first time that Donald Trump has pulled the United States out of a long relationship with a global agency and sadly, it will not be the last time that he does it either. This is what he does, he ends agreements, treaties, and partnerships that we have with our allies and other nations and in the process he leaves America alone and isolated.

The list of these type of partnerships that he has ended that I am about to list is long and the fallout from ending our involvement with these groups and treaties has been felt in a profound and real way and in a way that has not been good for our nation or the people of the United States of America in any way whatsoever.

• Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
• The Paris Climate Agreement
• World Health Organization
• UNESCO
• Iran Nuclear Deal
• Arms Control Treaties with Russia
• NATO
• Global Impact for Migration
• UN Human Rights Council
• NAFTA
• UNRWA (United Nations’ aid program for Palestinian refugees)

This list are just the major deals and groups that the Trump Administration has pulled us out of, but the list is actually much longer and the impact of all the things that he ended and the groups and partnerships he has pulled us out of will have a lasting impact on our future, even when we rejoin these things when Joe Biden wins this November.

Some of the organizations and deals that he has pulled us out of have had more of an effect than others on us, but they all in one way or another were the wrong move and history will show that. We joined these groups and deals for good reason and many presidents from both parties have supported the things that he has pulled us from and that should say it all about where we are with this man.

As I said, the list is long. Trump likes to just end things that he does not like or that he cannot control.

This is who he is and who he has always been. Things always have to be on his terms and go the way that he wants them to go. He never is willing to meet people half way and that is why we pulled us from these situations and deals in the first place.

Trump claims to be the “Best deal maker” yet he does not do deals unless he has the upper hand. In these situations like with WHO and NAFTA and the many others he has pulled us from was that he would not benefit and gain something from us being in these groups and doing these deals and as we know, it is all about him and what he can get from a given situation.

Let’s look at the main four that he pulled us out of during his first term as president and how him doing so impacted our country and the people of not only America, but the world. I think that you will find that the actions he took in removing us from these groups and deals did not serve the best interests of the United States and in fact, isolated us from the world.

Paris Climate Agreement

The Paris Climate Agreement was signed by 175 nations back in late 2015 and early 2016 and the United States was one of those countries that agreed to be part of this historic partnership back when President Obama was in office as our president.

The deal was put in place for the planet to fight climate change by taking some simple steps, including gradually reducing emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, which come from the burning of fossil fuels such as oil and natural gases. It was an agreement that had most of the world on board and that was sure to help us fight the growing threat we face of climate change.

Trump pulled us out as he believes that climate change is a “hoax” and did not want our nation to be a part of that. Let that sink in for a moment and really take it in for what it is. The President of the United States thinks that climate change is not real and is a hoax and because of this he made the huge mistake of puling us out of this historic agreement.

There are not many countries who are looking in from the outside on this deal that was signed back in 2015. Most of the world decided to take this threat as the serious thing that it is and one of those countries was the United States of America under the leadership and guidance of Barack Obama, but sadly, that changed when Trump took over.

This is one of the ways that Trump has isolated us from the rest of the world and removed us from the conversation of what a nation that leads on the big issues looks like. There were days when this great nation led on things like the Paris deal, but those days are long gone and these days we are on the outside looking in and not even at the table.

I am sad to say, but the days of the United States being a global leader on the threats of the world are long gone, we are isolated and are headed down a wrong path and removing us from the Paris Climate Agreement is one of the big mistakes of this administration.

UN Human Rights Council

Trump pulled out of the United Nations Human Rights Council sometime last summer in a move that shocked everyone. This left the United States without a vote on some of the atrocities in relation to human rights that have taken place around the world.

Trump stepping away from the Geneva based group that promotes human rights around the globe was a move that was surprising but shouldn't have been given his view on the groups who are persecuted and oppressed in these human rights violations around the world.

The move was unprecedented for a nation known to fight for the human rights of people throughout the world and was yet another mistake and failed move by the Trump administration in an effort to leave the United Nations and go it alone, without any association with our allies and the countries who have had our back for so long.

This council fights the human rights violations that occur around the globe to LGBTQ Americans, women, children, and so many more marginalized groups of people and here is Trump ending our relationship with the UN on this issue and ending this long-time partnership that brings nations together with the shared goal of protecting human rights.

Of course, the unsurprising part of it is that the Trump administration and Trump himself share some of the views of the countries that commit these crimes against humanity that the UN Human Rights Council was created to fight against in the first place.

This administration has been the least human rights friendly administration in American history and has committed a fair amount of atrocities themselves over the last few years. The locking immigrant children in cages and housing them in deplorable conditions in these detention centers, removing LGBTQ rights, tear gassing peaceful protesters are just a few of the atrocities that this president has presided over during his term.

This was yet another attempt to isolate America from the rest of the world and set us on a path of what Trump wants and not what is good for America and good for humanity.

Iran Nuclear Deal

When President Obama reached the historic deal with Iran to halt their nuclear weapons program, the world became a safer place.

However, when Trump took office in 2017, he effectively tore up the deal and set us on an uncertain path with the Middle Eastern power. Trump made our nation and the world less safe by ending the deal with Iran and has continued to do so with his tweets and actions against them since.

The deal during the Obama Administration was put in place to prevent Iran from continuing their nuclear program and enriching uranium, among other things that they were doing and it was working. Trump ended that and not only yet again, isolated America, he also made us less safe while endangering the planet in what could at some point become a nuclear showdown.

This was one of the ways that Trump isolated us and put us in danger at the very same time. This was his way to express his xenophobia while removing something that Obama did that was positive because as we know, Trump wants to undo all of what his predecessor did, no matter how good it is and of course, xenophobia was what he ran on.

The Iran Deal was a peace deal. Trump taking us out of that agreement was yet another way that he made us less safe and more isolated rather than united as part of the world that we live in.

World Health Organization

Finally, we come to the present day.

Donald Trump sent formal notice on July 6, 2020 that the United States will no longer be part of the World Health Organization effective one year later on July 6, 2021.

This move is the latest of a list of reckless and irresponsible moves by the Trump Administration as he seeks to have the U.S. go it alone in all matters and to step away from our allies who fight things with us. The fallout from him removing us from the WHO. will be more profound than any of his other withdrawals to date, know this.

Trump makes this announcement in the middle of a global pandemic where this organization is fighting the virus that has taken the lives of more than 550,000 people around the world and 132,000 of those deaths being right here in the United States.

Of course, as he always does, Trump blames others for this pandemic and the deaths from it and the World Health Organization are one of those who he blames for the pandemic. I find this quite ironic considering that it has been his own weak, inadequate, and negligent response that has made this virus explode like it has in our country, not the WHO. or China, or anyone else for that matter.

Withdrawing from this organization and at this time is the most reckless thing that a leader could do and yet, here we are.

The $450 million dollar contribution that we make to the WHO does so much good as they try and find that vaccine and fight this virus that is infecting and killing so many and Trump is saying, we are done, which is irresponsible and shameful.

Trump says that the United States will redirect those funds to other health agencies but if we know Trump, we know that we cannot trust what he says he will do as he never does it. The same is true with this situation about funding during this pandemic and withdrawing the funds from the WHO, he will just use the money on causes he believes in, not this pandemic.

The World Health Organization is a world leader in health and does great work, even without a global pandemic raging through the world that has killed hundreds of thousands of people. The WHO has always led when it comes to the issue of health and to withdraw from this organization is the wrong move and a deadly one.

The American Medical Association said of the move, “The World Health Organization plays a leading role in protecting, supporting, and promoting public health in the United States and around the world.” and they are right in that assessment, absolutely.

The withdrawal from the WHO during this global pandemic will have dire consequences for the United States and our people and this should show us just who this man is and what he values.

He seeks to isolate the American people from all things global and the great organizations who help promote health and prosperity around the globe and this move is proof that he is unfit for office , more than ever before. I hope that people now see that Trump does not care about our lives or ending something as tragic as this pandemic or anything at all.

Trump wants to remove us from an organization like the WHO because they speak facts about COVID-19 and make him look like a fool. They are experts in the field and know what they are talking about and he does not have any clue what he is doing and his failed response to this crisis has proven that while it is the WHO and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) who are the ones leading us and making the right choices.

Stepping away from the World Health Organization was a very big mistake and Trump has made a lot of these mistakes, but this one takes the cake and will be remembered as a move that chose his own ego over fighting a global pandemic that has decimated this nation and our people. For Trump, it is all about him and this move proves that, more than ever.

An Isolated America is Not a Great America

This is a fact. America will never be great as long as we do things alone and isolated.

Leaving the World Health Organization and the many other groups and deals that I have mentioned here are not moves that make us great and promote American prosperity. I know that Trump likes to be king and that those who support him have this “America First” vision of our country, but that is not how we achieve greatness.

We achieve greatness by coming together with our allies and partners in a joint effort to achieve a common goal. Whether that goal is human rights or preventing a nuclear war or fighting a global pandemic or whatever it is, the way that we accomplish a common goal is by coming together in unity, not staying isolated with one man calling the shots.

“What is important is that we make sure to work together, that we understand our strength comes from unity and not division.”

Those are the wise words of Barack Obama and they are still true today as the day that he said them.

America will never be great if we remain stuck in the vision of nationalism that Trump seems to embrace. Nationalism is the way of isolation and doing it on your own while globalism is the way to coming together for a common goal and working as one for the greatness of the world, a world that we all live in as human beings.

I like to use the basketball analogy of being a ball hog when discussing this issue.

You do not when a game with one player who hogs the ball and takes all of the shots, but you win the game with the entire team working together to get the job done and this is how things work with a global approach to the world that we live in.

You do not win by becoming isolated and alone and this is the path that Donald Trump has taken us down and it is the wrong path, a path that will not be good for our future and the future of this nation. We must unite with our allies across the globe on all matters and during this pandemic, it is especially imperative that we work as one world.

Isolation will not make us great, no matter what Donald Trump thinks and no matter how hard he tries to keep us in the dark, America will lead the way and we will do that by working with others, not staying alone and following the failed leadership of one man.