For a president who has promoted an “America First” agenda, Trump’s foreign policy mantra at the U.N. General Assembly might be more accurately described as “me first.”

To a degree, world leaders have grown accustomed to the president’s self-promotion and self-dealings. Foreign delegations book floors in the Trump hotel in Washington, meet with him at his private resorts at Mar-a-Lago in Florida and Bedminster in New Jersey, court his adult children, and play to his ego by hosting him for elaborate state visits and showering him with over-the-top flattery.

AD

AD

But the news of Trump’s private request to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate presidential candidate Joe Biden — first revealed in news reports, then confirmed in a declassified summary of the call released by the White House — threatened to completely overshadow a global summit of more than 150 leaders.

“I am and always will be a fan of conceptualizing ‘America First’ … but the really dangerous development here is the degree to which the president and his supporters conflate what is good for America and what is good for President Trump personally,” said Bryan McGrath, a retired naval officer who helped organize one of the two “Never Trump” letters signed by Republican national security veterans that asserted Trump’s unfitness for office during the 2016 campaign.

Over three days in New York, Trump seemed to confirm all of the traits McGrath and 121 others had flagged in calling Trump “fundamentally dishonest” and “a distinct threat to civil liberty in the United States” with a foreign policy “unmoored in principle.”

AD

AD

Trump repeatedly trashed Biden, suggesting it was the former vice president who had inappropriately pressured Ukrainian officials to help his son’s business dealings — despite evidence to the contrary.

Meeting with Zelensky on Wednesday, Trump also faulted former president Barack Obama for allowing Russian-backed forces to invade and occupy the Crimea region of Ukraine. A day earlier, in his 37-minute address to world leaders in the United Nations’ distinctive green-marbled chambers, Trump made no mention of Russia’s malign behavior, including Moscow’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.

“What we’re seeing in the [Ukraine] transcript is that he is clearly putting his own interests over the interests of the United States,” said John Bellinger III, who served as a lawyer on the National Security Council under President George W. Bush. “There are so many things he could have talked about, such as Russian interference in Ukraine, but all Trump wants to talk about is investigating a political rival.”

AD

AD

Sitting in front of a row of international flags during a U.N. session Wednesday that focused on the corrupt rule of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, Trump hijacked the event by responding to shouted questions from reporters about the Ukrainian matter.

“It’s the single greatest witch hunt in American history,” Trump declared, adding that there were “a lot of corrupt” journalists pursuing the story.

His tone toward reporters was different on Monday during a bilateral meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan when a Pakistani journalist suggested Trump would deserve a Nobel Peace Prize if he intervened in the violent dispute between Pakistan and India over the contested region of Kashmir.

AD

That prompted Trump to declare that he deserves a Nobel “for a lot of things” but that the awards committee in Sweden does not choose prize winners fairly.

AD

“They gave one to Obama immediately upon his ascent to the presidency, and he had no idea why he got it,” Trump said. “And you know what? That was the only thing I agreed with him on.”

The reporter then asked Trump about the suffering of the Kashmiri people, but Trump was still marveling about the thought of a Nobel Prize. “Where do you find reporters like this?” he asked Khan. “These guys are fantastic.”

Trump’s penchant for rewarding those who praise him and punishing those who stand up to him has been long evident in his foreign policy dealings.

AD

He promised Brazil’s nationalist leader Jair Bolsonaro, who earned the moniker “Trump of the Tropics,” ahead of the Group of Seven summit in France last month that he would defend Brazil’s sovereignty in the face of mounting international criticism over Bolsonaro’s handling of wildfires in the Amazon rainforest.

AD

He has aligned with brutal North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, who has sent Trump a series of flattering personal letters, over the U.S. intelligence community and military — and said he agreed with North Korean state media’s characterization of Biden in May as a “fool of low IQ.” Two weeks ago, Trump sided with Kim again over their mutual distaste for former White House national security adviser John Bolton.

Last year, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has sought to ingratiate himself with Trump, privately nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts on North Korea — a disclosure Trump blurted out during a Rose Garden news conference that was embarrassing for the conservative Abe.

AD

But on Wednesday in New York, Trump suggested that Abe’s deference had paid off. Announcing that the United States and Japan had agreed to a limited trade pact, Trump joked: “The reason I did it is because you’ve been so loyal.”

AD

By contrast, the president has reserved a special disdain for those who oppose him. Last month, Trump abruptly canceled a trip to Denmark after leaders there scoffed at his ruminations that the United States should purchase Greenland. On Monday, he posted a tweet mocking Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish activist who has denounced world leaders for their failure to act aggressively to combat climate change.

Trump had walked out of a U.N. climate forum earlier that day after about 10 minutes.

AD

On Wednesday, though, the president was back in his comfort zone as he bantered with Zelensky and revealed again how often he views U.S. foreign policy through the lens of his personal endeavors.

As the Ukrainian leader pressed him to visit the country, Trump reflected on his time as the owner of the Miss Universe pageant.