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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/28/melania-trump-un-security-council-europe-abortion-rights>
"“We ended DEI in America,” Donald Trump boasted during his State of the Union
(SOTU) address on Tuesday.
Unlike many things the president said in his excruciatingly long SOTU speech,
this was actually half true. The Trump administration’s “war on woke” has
pushed a lot of large companies and institutes to retreat from the diversity,
equity and inclusion policies they used to pretend to be proud of.
But while DEI may be dead, WTF hiring is very much alive. Being Wealthy,
Trumpy, and/or
Fox News-famous seem to be the only qualifications you need
for success in Trump’s USA. See, for example, the entire Trump administration:
a horrifying hodgepodge of unqualified sycophants. See also, hot off the press,
Melania Trump’s new gig at the United Nations. It’s been announced that the
first lady will lead a session of the United Nations security council on Monday
titled Children, Technology, and Education in Conflict.
It can’t be stressed enough that this is highly unusual. As the White House
noted in a statement: “Mrs Trump’s leadership will mark the first time a
sitting US first lady presides over the security council.” Back in precedented
times, you see, you generally needed a qualification or two to lead the
security council. Now, however, we’re squarely in the WTF economy: Melania is a
Trump, ergo automatically qualified to do anything her little heart desires.
What I want to know is why exactly Melania’s heart desires this. It’s true that
the first lady likes a project and has kept herself very busy with her meme
coins and coffee table books and film ventures. She has also made moves to
position herself as a leading voice in the area of responsible technology for
children and children in conflict. But, despite her pet projects, she’s kept a
low profile as first lady and hasn’t seemed particularly enthused about public
service or multilateralism.
It is my working hypothesis that there are only two reasons a Trump ever does
anything: money or malice. I’m not sure holding the gavel at Monday’s security
council session is particularly lucrative, so file this one under “malice”.
Foisting Melania on the security council as the US assumes the body’s rotating
monthly presidency sends a clear message to the world about just how seriously
the Trump administration takes the UN. It feels like an attempt to undermine
the credibility of the UN and multilateralism more broadly."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
