This administration has zero ability to build or bring people together, able only to destroy what others have made. On the bright side, it isn't effective until December 31, 2026 so there is plenty of time to chicken out.
Someone observed a lot of stuff that Trump is doing is through Executive Orders because he really can't do deals. Of course when (some of) his desires overlap with (some of) others', we get:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Big_Beautiful_Bill_Act
which is mostly about implementing:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025
> […] so there is plenty of time to chicken out.
TACO:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_Always_Chickens_Out
* https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/06/02/dona...
(Being reliant on TACO may backfire at some point.)
That's within the current administration. Unless a change in congress can prevent this, it's a done deal.
Under the Obama administration, the US stopped financing UNESCO in 2011(!) after it voted to include Palestine as a member state that year.
The Trump administration decided to withdraw fully from the agency in 2017.
The Biden administration rejoined UNESCO in 2023 and agreed to pay it $600 million(!) in back dues.
Now, the Trump administration is quitting it again.
In fact this is an almost perfectly partisan issue, and the 2011 canard is giving cover to some horrifying both-sidesism.
And for what it's worth I never mentioned nor was thinking about "two sides," just multiple distinct administrations. Partisanship wearies me (and the parties have changed a lot over the last 20-30 years)
I do agree with them that there is a 'rot' in these institutes. Though I don't know anything specific about the UNESCO that would warrant the withdrawal.
For institutes like the UN and UNRWA it does ring true however. It is wild to see claims of genocide where there isn't one and zero claims or calls for arrest when clear unambiguous genocidal massacres start taking place. UNRWA funded and run schools having theater classes where the children role-play murdering Jews is absurd and shouldn't be happening. (To name an example from before the 7th)
The UN should be setting a singular standard and holding everyone to account roughly equally. Not this clear and open corruption of its proclaimed principles. Whether it's in the main body or it's subsidiaries.
The current media and political landscape is a joke, there don't seem to be any standards. Frankly the future looks rather bleak. I really hope we can find to way back to 'common sense'. Good journalism, holding politicians to account and treating everyone equally, holding them to the same standards.