MSNBC host Brian Williams is a valor thief who falsely claimed to have faced enemy fire during wartime, but hey, we still believe every word he says as a “journalist.”
Like after President Trump’s powerful speech before the United Nations General Assembly this week. Williams — who now virtually has the overnight shift at the hyper-liberal cable network — wondered why Trump kept saying the word “sovereignty” and “sovereign.”
The president said the words 21 times. Take this passage:
To overcome the perils of the present and to achieve the promise of the future, we must begin with the wisdom of the past. Our success depends on a coalition of strong and independent nations that embrace their sovereignty to promote security, prosperity, and peace for themselves and for the world.
We do not expect diverse countries to share the same cultures, traditions, or even systems of government. But we do expect all nations to uphold these two core sovereign duties: to respect the interests of their own people and the rights of every other sovereign nation. This is the beautiful vision of this institution, and this is foundation for cooperation and success.
Strong, sovereign nations let diverse countries with different values, different cultures, and different dreams not just coexist, but work side by side on the basis of mutual respect.
Strong, sovereign nations let their people take ownership of the future and control their own destiny. And strong, sovereign nations allow individuals to flourish in the fullness of the life intended by God.
Now, that’s some pretty clear writing — and an even clearer ideology, one firmly based in pragmatism. Nations will hold themselves and their people first, but there are many ways in which these same nations can work together. One of the chief definitions of “sovereignty” from Merriam-Webster’s dictionary is “freedom from external control.” In short, Trump is saying America will decide what’s best for America — just as every other nation will decide for itself what’s best for them.
But former president Barack Obama had used his many speeches to the same United Nations to pitch the glories of globalism, pushing for things like a world court and, theoretically at least, even a world government that would make all decisions for all nations.
To Williams, the use of “sovereign” seemed dangerous. He criticized Trump’s America First speech as “plan-free,” “solution-free” and “the antithesis of a Marshall Plan.”
And he said the word had a secret meaning for … well, someone, he didn’t say who.
“Back to the use of this word sovereign and sovereignty. Did you hear a buzz word or dog whistle in his repeated use of that word?” Mr. Williams asked McClatchy reporter Anita Kumar.
“We were sort of expecting this theme, but it was just way more — it was just over the top,” said Kumar, who, you know, was there to give her “opinion” on the speech, seeing as she’s a “journalist” and all. “You know, it caused me to go back through and count how many times he used that word sovereign or sovereignty — 21 times. It was definitely the word.”
“So what does that mean?” Williams asked.
“It just means what he was talking about from the beginning, which is ‘America first,’ ‘we’re going to go it alone,’” Kumar said.
Uh, isn’t that what Trump ran on — and won?