--- title: Dalai Lama Says U.S. More Selfish Under Donald Trump description: The Dalai Lama said Saturday he is concerned that the United States is becoming more "selfish, nationalist" under President Donald Trump. canonical: https://time.com/4977527/donald-trump-dalai-lama/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-11T16:23:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:48:44.609Z article:section: Politics og:title: The Dalai Lama Says the U.S. Is More 'Selfish' Under President Trump og:description: "But anyway, the American people elected him, so I must respect that" og:url: https://time.com/4977527/donald-trump-dalai-lama/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta72208e878418e5b/6988e16b0a4a2272e39d0443/dalai-lama-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Tibetan Spiritual Leader Dalai Lama At The Tsuglakhang Temple In Dharamsala og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Dalai Lama Says the U.S. Is More 'Selfish' Under President Trump twitter:description: "But anyway, the American people elected him, so I must respect that" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta72208e878418e5b/6988e16b0a4a2272e39d0443/dalai-lama-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Dalai Lama Says the U.S. Is More 'Selfish' Under President Trump > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Oct 11, 2017 4:23 PM UTC  Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama sits on his ceremonial chair as he prays before beginning a religious talk at the Tsuglakhang Temple on Oct. 6, 2017 in Dharamsala, India. Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama sits on his ceremonial chair as he prays before beginning a religious talk at the Tsuglakhang Temple on Oct. 6, 2017 in Dharamsala, India. Shyam Sharma—Hindustan Times/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Oct 11, 2017 4:23 PM UTC The [Dalai Lama](http://time.com/3951171/the-dalai-lama/) said recently that he is concerned that the United States is becoming more “selfish, nationalist” under President Donald Trump. When asked by [the Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2017/10/11/the-dalai-lama-speaks-on-trump-and-america-first/?utm%5Fterm=.8c2ec58a9211) about his current view of the United States, the [exiled Tibetan spiritual leader](http://time.com/4821653/dalai-lama-university-california-san-diego-commencement-address/) said: “Your ancestors really considered the importance of liberty, freedom, democracy, these things . . . The present President, in the very beginning he mentioned ‘America first.’ That sounded in my ear not very nice.” The Dalai Lama said that after the U.S. presidential election last year, [he had “no worries”](https://apnews.com/b011809016d64b1fa1b45c327e1e9654/dalai-lama-i-have-no-worries-about-trumps-election) about Trump’s controversial campaign rhetoric, predicting that he would behave differently in office. But speaking at a [forum](http://tibet.net/tag/five-fifty-forum/) hosted by the Tibetan government-in-exile on Saturday, the Dalai Lama said he was concerned by Trump’s approach to climate change and military growth, [according to the ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2017/10/11/the-dalai-lama-speaks-on-trump-and-america-first/?utm%5Fterm=.8c2ec58a9211)[_Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2017/10/11/the-dalai-lama-speaks-on-trump-and-america-first/?utm%5Fterm=.8c2ec58a9211)_._ The Trump Administration has [rolled back environmental regulations](http://time.com/4976455/clean-power-plan-repeal-scott-pruitt-trump/) aimed at stopping global warming, and Trump continues to [threaten military action](http://time.com/4955880/donald-trump-north-korea-tweet-war/) against North Korea. “The present President is not much paying attention to ecology. So on that, I feel some reservation,” the Dalai Lama said. “But anyway, the American people elected him, so I must respect \[that\].” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4977527/donald-trump-dalai-lama/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4977527/donald-trump-dalai-lama/"},"headline":"The Dalai Lama Says the U.S. Is More 'Selfish' Under President Trump","datePublished":"2017-10-11T16:23:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:48:44.609Z","description":"\"But anyway, the American people elected him, so I must respect that\"","url":"https://time.com/4977527/donald-trump-dalai-lama/","keywords":["Donald Trump","India","Dalai Lama","Tibet","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta72208e878418e5b/6988e16b0a4a2272e39d0443/dalai-lama-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta72208e878418e5b/6988e16b0a4a2272e39d0443/dalai-lama-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Tibetan Spiritual Leader Dalai Lama At The Tsuglakhang Temple In Dharamsala","caption":"Tibetan Spiritual Leader Dalai Lama At The Tsuglakhang Temple In Dharamsala","creditText":"Shyam Sharma—Hindustan Times/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4977527/donald-trump-dalai-lama/","name":"The Dalai Lama Says the U.S. Is More 'Selfish' Under President Trump"}}]}] ```