Kuala Lampur, Sept. 30 -- SEPT 30 - Last week, during his address at the United Nations, Donald Trump delivered more than a mere political speech. He issued a challenge. For him, migration was not concerned with aiding individuals, generating profit, or engaging in conventional diplomacy. It was portrayed as a conflict between powerful nations that safeguard their borders and weaker ones that "abandon their countries to ruin."

The meaning of the symbols was evident. The UN was historically a forum for collaboration, negotiation, and the employment of diplomatic terminology. For Trump, it evolved into a battleground. His remarks, occasionally apocalyptic, sardonic, or self-congratulatory, were intended to convey that the world faced peril...