Trump says UN just a club for people to 'have a good time'

© The Associated Press President-elect Donald Trump, second from left, accompanied by his wife, Melania Trump, center right, departs after attending a Christmas Eve service at the Church of Bethesda-by-the Sea, in West Palm Beach

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Days after the United Nations voted to condemn Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, Donald Trump questioned its effectiveness Monday, saying it's just a club for people to "have a good time."

The president-elect wrote on Twitter that the U.N. has "such great potential," but it has become "just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad!"

On Friday, Trump warned, "As to the U.N., things will be different after Jan. 20th," referring to the day he takes office.

The decision by the Obama administration to abstain from Friday's U.N. vote brushed aside Trump's demands that the U.S. exercise its veto and provided a climax to years of icy relations with Israel's leadership.

Trump told The Associated Press last December that he wanted to be "very neutral" on Israel-Palestinian issues. But his tone became decidedly more pro-Israel as the presidential campaign progressed. He has spoken disparagingly of Palestinians, saying they have been "taken over" by or are condoning militant groups.

Trump's tweet Monday about the U.N. ignores much of the work that goes on in the 193-member global organization.

This year the U.N. Security Council has approved over 70 legally binding resolutions, including new sanctions on North Korea and measures tackling conflicts and authorizing the U.N.'s far-flung peacekeeping operations around the world. The General Assembly has also approved dozens of resolutions on issues, like the role of diamonds in fueling conflicts; condemned human rights abuses in Iran and North Korea; and authorized an investigation of alleged war crimes in Syria.

Trump's criticism of the U.N. is by no means unique. While the organization does engage in large-scale humanitarian and peacekeeping efforts, its massive bureaucracy has long been a source of controversy. The organization has been accused by some Western governments of being inefficient and frivolous, while developing nations have said it is overly influenced by wealthier nations.

Trump tweeted later Monday, "The world was gloomy before I won — there was no hope. Now the market is up nearly 10 percent and Christmas spending is over a trillion dollars!"

Markets are up since Trump won the general election, although not quite by that much. The Standard & Poor's 500 is up about 6 percent since Election Day, while the Dow has risen more than 8 percent.

As for holiday spending, auditing and accounting firm Deloitte projected in September that total 2016 holiday sales were expected to exceed $1 trillion, representing a 3.6 percent to 4.0 percent increase in holiday sales from November through January.

The president-elect is spending the holidays at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. He had no public schedule Monday.


KRAUTHAMMER: Trump should ‘put his name on’ UN headquarters and ‘turn it into condos’

Conservative pundit Charles Krauthammer railed against the United Nations on Monday, saying President-elect Donald Trump should put his name on the organization’s Manhattan headquarters and “turn it into condos.”

Krauthammer told Fox News host Bret Baier that the UN has “turned out to be a disaster,” criticizing the recent Security Council resolution urging Israel to stop building settlements on occupied Palestinian land.

“This is very serious damage that cannot be undone because you can’t change a Security Council resolution without the acquiescence of the Russians and the Chinese, and you’re not gonna get it,” Krauthammer said.

The nationally-syndicated columnist then joined other conservatives in calling for the abolishment of the UN’s Manhattan headquarters.

“It is an organization that exacerbates tensions, not assuages them,” Krauthammer said of the UN. “… Any move to minimize our support for it, any move to get it out of the US, imagine if headquarters were in Zimbabwe. The amount of weight and coverage it would get would be zero.”

He continued: “I think it’s good real estate in downtown New York City, and Trump ought to find a way to put his name on it and turn it into condos.”

Share this post