Donald Trump’s presidency seems to go to bed with one thought and wake up with the opposite. In September last year, the habitually self-contradictory US leader attacked the United Nations for not stopping migration and failing at peacemaking in conflict zones, which he then decided to pursue as a ‘peace’ president.
Trump has not paid pending US bills of over $2 bn to the UN, but he recently offered to get other countries to pay up. Disdain for the UN and the multilateral order was evident when he set up a parallel committee, a Board of Peace, to work for world amity.
War with Iran deepens the paradox
True to form, he contradicted himself quickly and launched a full-scale war on Iran in league with Israel, sending the global economy into another tailspin.
The welter of paradoxes was confounded when he fielded First Lady Melania Trump as the US representative to address the Security Council on dealing with the crisis of children living in or fleeing conflict zones.
Melania Trump’s address to the Security Council
Melania fatuously assured the Council that the United States stood with the world’s children when global media were reporting that a school in Minab, Iran, had been bombed, killing 165 people, most of them schoolgirls. Schools across the Gulf are shut.
Children bearing the brunt of wars
UNICEF says the horrific bombing of the Gaza Strip in Palestine has killed 21,289 children as of February 3 this year—among a total of 71,803 people—a carnage carried out by Israel with brazen US support during both the Biden and Trump administrations. Another 44,500 children have been injured.
In Ukraine, school sessions are interrupted by air raid sirens after the Russian invasion, which rains down death and destruction. Smaller conflicts also extract a deadly price.
A dystopian reality
Akin to a dystopian movie, national leaders intone to traumatised and often impoverished people that wars and misery are being heaped on them for their own good.
The UN Security Council was convened to think of ways to help children study in an era of avoidable wars. Melania called for technology and AI to help children overcome access barriers, but such advice descends into farce when physical safety, leave alone technical systems and electricity, is hard to find.
War’s impact on children’s health and education
Malnutrition, disease, and lack of healthcare facilities due to conflict leave young minds emaciated, unable to benefit from education in whatever form.
Questions over personal influence and resources
If Melania Trump’s heart does beat for the deprived children of the world, she has significant personal resources to advance their cause. Her production company was paid $40 m by Amazon for a documentary film on her, and the retained stock of a memecoin cryptocurrency that she issued in 2025 is valued at over $265 m, beyond what speculators made from the publicly issued portion.
What children really need
But then, what the world’s children really need is only peace, nutritious food, housing, schools, and good teachers. The fashionable aristocracy of war cannot help.
