Here’s how Elise Stefanik can put Trump’s America First agenda to work at the UN

The screams you heard emanating from Turtle Bay earlier this week were foreign diplomats learning that President-elect Donald Trump would appoint Rep. Elise Stefanik to be his ambassador to the United Nations.

If anyone can fight back against the anti-Americanism and antisemitism inside the UN system, it’s Stefanik (R-NY).

Her first stop will be the UN Security Council. As a permanent member, the United States holds both a veto and the power to convene.

Stefanik should use them in ways the Biden administration never did.

The Biden team lived in fear of wielding America’s veto, viewing its deployment as a failure of diplomacy, and searched instead for compromises that diluted his own administration’s policy positions.

That put the United States on defense while Russia and China — unafraid to use their own veto powers whenever needed — went on offense.

In a cesspool of anti-American actors searching for any angle to harm our country, Stefanik should be unafraid to use every tool to fight back.

That starts with a firm backstop — letting adversaries know the United States will be unflinching in its use of the veto — but continues by waging an offensive campaign against those adversaries.

With the power to convene and introduce resolutions, both Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), reportedly his pick for secretary of state, should view Stefanik as their tip of the spear in political warfare against America’s enemies.

No month should pass without the council shining a light on the illicit conduct of China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and their key partners in chaos. China and Russia should be forced to veto resolutions defending their own malign activities and those of their clients and allies.

For example, instead of waiting for yet another anti-Israel resolution to come before the council for a US veto, Stefanik might force a vote on the UN designation of Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Let Beijing and Moscow openly defend a brutal terrorist group by using their vetoes to stop it.

The same can be done to spotlight other terror proxies of Iran — such as the Houthis and their attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea — and China’s and Russia’s own crimes against humanity.

If, as expected, Trump reconstitutes his maximum pressure campaign against Iran, Stefanik has an early role to play: Pushing the United Kingdom, France and Germany to join the United States in triggering the snapback of multilateral sanctions on Iran.

Using the snapback mechanism before it expires next year would bring back the UN’s conventional and missile embargoes on Tehran and restore the international standard of zero enrichment for Iran while avoiding a Russian or Chinese veto.

Next comes leveraging American financial assistance across the UN system to root out Chinese malign influence, counter antisemitism and stop dollars from flowing to terrorist groups.

Stefanik should establish a campaign “war room” to recruit pro-American candidates to run UN agencies and defeat candidates loyal to Beijing. She should also make it a priority to identify and remove Chinese officials embedded in UN upper management.

For example, the World Health Organization denies Taiwan observer status and also conceals the origins of COVID-19. Agencies like the Food and Agriculture Organization and UNESCO operate as arms of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. The Human Rights Council whitewashes China’s abuses.

All these agencies should be high on her target list.

She should make sure to maintain US dominance inside technology standards-making organizations like the International Telecommunication Union — and to gain more leverage over Beijing, Stefanik can insist that Taiwan be given an observer seat at every US-supported UN agency.

Stefanik should declare another policy: Any agency that engages in antisemitism will not receive a dime from US taxpayers.

That includes the UN’s own regular budget, noting the systemic antisemitism of a world body that lowers its flag for the death of Iran’s president but does not condemn Oct. 7.

It also applies to groups like the Human Rights Council and WHO, which have standing agenda items to castigate Israel; UNESCO, which denies Jewish history; and the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which teaches children in Gaza and the West Bank to hate Jews.

UNRWA should be targeted for another reason: It is a direct financial pipeline to designated terrorist organizations like Hamas. But temporarily defunding UNRWA isn’t enough; Stefanik should work toward its complete dismantlement.

Terror-finance problems are not limited to Hamas. Stefanik will need to launch an investigation into UN funding in Afghanistan, where the Taliban are reportedly stealing a sizable share of aid.

There’s one other key area in which Stefanik must help Trump: border security.

As border czar Tom Homan works to gain control of America’s southern border, he will need Stefanik to pressure agencies like UN Migration and the High Commissioner for Refugees to stop incentivizing illegal immigration into the United States.

If she follows this America First UN playbook, Stefanik won’t be popular at Manhattan cocktail parties. But she will succeed in making our country stronger.

Richard Goldberg is a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.