What Karoline Leavitt calls Trump’s 'authenticity' is abhorrent to the rest of the world

Whenever Donald Trump acts like a jerk, says something stupid, or insults someone with his offensiveness, all which seems to happen hourly, his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, trots out the same tired defense: “authenticity.”

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She says with a straight face that it's just Trump being his “authentic self.” It’s supposed to excuse him from the standards of decency that apply to every other politician, diplomat, and world leader. She says that’s why people voted for him — he’s authentic.

Right! It wasn’t grocery bills or gas prices, it was because Trump is just such a lovable, authentic type of guy.

The latest example of his authenticity came this week when Trump used Charlie Kirk’s memorial service, of all places, to preach hate instead of offering comfort. When reporters asked Leavitt the next day if it was appropriate for Trump to spew bile at a quasi-religious service, she smugly explained it away as authenticity.

She always does. I’ve heard it so many times, and it never ceases to amaze me that anyone thinks this line works. He’s about as authentic as Botox.

Unfortunately, it does, at least for his MAGA base. Many Americans have become numb to Trump’s behavior. They now expect him to be a jerk, to say something stupid like warning pregnant women never to take Tylenol, which was reminiscent of the day when he told us drinking Clorox might get rid of COVID.

It’s as if outrage fatigue has set in, which emboldens Trump to say and do anything with impunity. He faces no real repercussions because his supporters claim to find his vulgarity refreshing. And the rest of us? We were horrified, but now? Whatever.

Yet one thing remains constant. To those who didn’t vote for him, he’s simply the most offensive man alive.

But it’s my sense that the world does not share America’s numbness. When I speak to friends overseas, they are mortified at what’s happening here.

And Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly, Trump gave a speech so unhinged that even Slate described it as his most “bonkers” yet. Who speaks at the esteemed podium in the gilded Assembly Hall at the U.N. and says, "Your countries are going to hell"? Seriously, only a demented fiend would say such a thing.

For 57 minutes, he rambled, insulted, boasted, and lied his way through what was supposed to be a serious address to the global community. He offered no plan for peace, no vision for unity, no recognition of shared humanity. The last being so in character for a man who only cares about himself.

Instead, he used the occasion as though it were a MAGA rally. He mocked global cooperation, sneered at international law, and framed the U.N. itself as a nuisance to American power. In doing so, he didn’t just shame himself, he shamed the United States.

Eighty years ago, at the opening of the first U.N. General Assembly, President Harry Truman set a standard. In the aftermath of World War II, Truman spoke of peace, comity, and the need for nations to come together to prevent future horrors.

“All will concede that in order to have good neighbors, we must also be good neighbors. That applies in every field of human endeavor,” Truman said.

Truman’s soaring words reflected a moment of hope when America was seen as the world’s indispensable leader. Truman could never have imagined that eight decades later, the United States, with Trump at the helm, would become the worst neighbor in the world.

Trump does not know the meaning of decorum or being helpful. What Truman once lifted up as a beacon of possibility, Trump dragged into the gutter with arrogance and contempt. He spoke not as the president of the United States but as Donald Trump, who is nothing more than a snake selling snake oil..

He is too narcissistic to understand that he is supposed to represent the nation. Instead, he represents only himself, thinking the world should listen to his “bonkerness.”

World leaders have just got to be aghast. First, that selfish U.S. voters returned the most selfish person in the world to office. And second, that American democracy, once the global standard, has sunk so quickly into dysfunction and flirtation with autocracy.

The United States, which once proudly exported democracy through diplomacy, aid, and alliances, now seems to have fallen off the map entirely. In other words, we’re becoming the worst neighbor on the block.

To me, what makes this so much worse is how foreign leaders, desperate for influence, fawn over him. I watched in disbelief as King Charles and British officials wrapped Trump in pomp and circumstance last weekend.

Look, it’s understandable that nations need to flatter him so that they can get what they want. But history shows what happens to those who cozy up to Trump. Like law firms, media companies, and universities that caved to him, they eventually get burned.

Frankly, are world leaders obtuse? Trump has caused havoc in the world and done nothing to fulfill his lofty campaign promises of ending wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

And like everyone else, no one seems to understand, particularly shown by Disney and ABC’s decision (now reversed) to bench Jimmy Kimmel. When you succumb to a dictator, you don’t tame him. What you are really doing is dooming yourself.

Trump’s behavior at the U.N. was not the harmless rant of an old man with bruised hands, cankles and a propensity to doze off. His performance was a demonstration of how he sees power — as his alone to wield.

He gets stature only because he is president of the United States, not because he possesses any qualities of wisdom or statesmanship. Or that he’s some second coming of Christ, which unfortunately part of his base thinks he is.

He is arrogant, appalling, and incapable of rising to the moment.

Karoline Leavitt will surely remind us that Trump’s offensiveness at the U.N. was him being authentic. But authenticity without morality is abject cruelty. Authenticity without intellect is utter stupidity. Authenticity without respect is boorish contempt.

That’s what the world saw Tuesday. It saw a fool, a tyrant in training, a man who is disgracing the very country he is supposed to represent. He’s an embarrassment to us here in the U.S.,and an abhorrence to the rest of the world.

The only thing authentic about Donald Trump is his disdain for America itself. And Tuesday, the world looked on in revulsion.

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