Time to cut ties: Americans back President Trump’s push to defund the UN

By Brian C. Joondeph | Commentary, Rasmussen Reports

President Trump’s blunt assessment of the United Nations during his September 23 address wasn’t just political theater. It reflected the growing frustration many Americans feel toward a bloated, ineffective, and increasingly hostile international organization.

In his speech, Trump declared, “The U.N. is supposed to stop invasions, not create them, and not finance them.” According to a new Rasmussen Reports poll, 60% of U.S. voters agree, including 43% who strongly agree. That’s not a fringe view – that’s the voice of the American mainstream.

The United Nations, established in 1945 to promote peace and cooperation among nations, has instead become a symbol of globalist overreach and institutional rot. From its failure to prevent genocides in Rwanda and Syria, to ignoring human rights abuses in member states like China and Iran, the U.N. has shifted from being a peacekeeper to more of a paper tiger.

Even worse, it often goes against American interests. Trump was spot-on to point out how the UN has increasingly facilitated mass migration into the West, promoting policies that weaken national sovereignty under the pretense of humanitarianism. The U.S. Constitution starts with “We the People,” not “We the Bureaucrats in Turtle Bay.”

It’s no surprise that voters are fed up. Among Republicans, a whopping 84% agreed with Trump’s statement, and even a surprising 41% of Democrats share that view. Majorities across gender, race, and party lines recognize what elites and career diplomats refuse to admit: the UN is failing at its core mission and now risks becoming an international welfare program for lawless regimes and unaccountable kleptocrats.

The cost of this failure is not only ideological but also financial. The United States is the largest contributor to the U.N. budget, providing about 22% of its core budget and over 26% of its peacekeeping budget, more than any other country in the world.

That’s billions of American taxpayer dollars going to an organization that regularly votes against our interests and undermines our borders. Would any sane business keep paying membership dues to a club that actively works to sabotage it?

And let’s not forget the perks U.N. officials enjoy while working on American soil. Thanks to diplomatic immunity, U.N. employees in New York can ignore U.S. laws with impunity.

Over the years, reports have emerged of everything from unpaid parking tickets to serious crimes, including sexual assault, committed by U.N. personnel in both host and mission countries. Justice is seldom served, as these individuals hide behind diplomatic privilege and bureaucratic stonewalling.

In this situation, relocating the U.N. out of the United States is more than just symbolic. It’s practical. If the U.N. wants to act as a playground for dictators and globalists, let them do it from Beijing, Brussels, or anywhere else willing to host. America shouldn’t be paying for it or playing the doormat.

Even beyond immigration and crime, the Rasmussen poll clearly shows that most Americans view the U.S. as the true force for good in the world, not the United Nations. Fifty-eight percent (58%) said so, while only 33% felt the same about the U.N.

That stark contrast shows a truth many on the left and in the global bureaucracy refuse to see. American leadership and exceptionalism, not international consensus, are what really drive the world forward.

President Trump once asked, “What do we get for our money?” when referring to NATO and the U.N. It’s a question more Americans are asking themselves every day. According to the latest polling, it’s clear they’re not satisfied with the answer.

READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT RASMUSSEN REPORTS

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