I had missed this in prior coverage (I couldn't bear to watch or read it):
Most alarming, to veteran leaders and diplomats from other democracies, was the larger message Mr. Trump carefully delivered about the sort of world he would like to see. It was a message that did not contain the words "democracy" or "human rights," to say nothing of the word "climate."
And it was a message that had its climax in this rather shocking passage, which seemed to have been cribbed from the darkest moments of the 1930s:
"Now we are calling for a great reawakening of nations. For the revival of their spirits, their pride, their people and their patriotism. History is asking us whether we are up to the task. Our answer will be a renewal of will, a rediscovery of resolve, and a rebirth of devotion. We need to defeat the enemies of humanity and unlock the potential of life itself … The ancient wish of every people, and the deepest yearning that lives inside every sacred soul."
That steely talk of vengeful national will and angry patriotism, devoid of any scent of democracy or international co-operation, salted with praise for Saudi autocrats, coupled with a genuine threat to withdraw from the climate and nuclear-peace treaties that have kept the world safe from its worst futures, was all too familiar to many of the leaders seated in New York on Tuesday. They know this sort of language from their own 20th-century history – it was precisely the sort of language whose fearsome outcomes led to the creation of the United Nations.
If the leader of any other country talked that way, there would already be talk of "preventive war" to take them out.
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