Samantha Power was on "The View" this week to talk about Donald Trump and how other members of the United Nations see him.
She's "not a fan" of Trump's cozy ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. "There are lots of ways to get along with Russia. I've made 60 UN Resolutions with Russia. But when they lop off parts of other countries, support governments that use chemical weapons, and interfere in our election...." Right.
And she has a simple reaction to Trump's central theme:
"If 'America First' -- that's a reasonable proposition for a Commander in Chief -- they're going to put their citizens first, but if that means "America Only," or if we don't see our security as linked to other countries, or our economy as linked to other countries, that could be a real problem."
She points out that we need other countries not just to fight ISIL, but to fight outbreaks of Ebola or Zika or any other pandemic that does not respect arbitrary borders.
Ambassador Power had kind things to say about her successor, Nikki Haley, suggesting that "career foreign service civil servants" would help her transition to her new job. However...
Power also said she considered herself lucky that she served under Barack Obama.
Those at the UN on behalf of the United States "are anxious. They're worried the Trump administration will turn its back on the UN. You can be a very effective and popular UN Ambassador if the policies of your government are things that you can use to rally the world."
Good luck with that, Nikki Haley.