By Olatunbosun Obafemi
US President Donald Trump returned to the United Nations on Tuesday with a blistering speech that accused the world body of irrelevance, denounced Western allies over migration, and dismissed climate change as a “con job.”
Speaking for nearly an hour at the General Assembly in New York – his first appearance there since regaining the White House – Trump warned European leaders that their countries were “going to hell” because of what he described as uncontrolled migration. He also accused the UN of offering “empty words” instead of real action on conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, and elsewhere.
“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” Trump asked, charging that the institution was falling short of its potential. The address was met with near silence, a stark contrast to the laughter that greeted his first UN speech in 2018.
Trump ridiculed the organization for what he said were its failures, even complaining about a broken escalator and faulty teleprompter at UN headquarters. “These are the two things I got from the United Nations: a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter,” he quipped.
The president attacked European allies for continuing to buy Russian oil, while also criticizing China and India on the same issue. Moscow, however, largely escaped his ire. He condemned recent recognition of a Palestinian state by Washington’s allies, calling it a “reward” for Hamas following the group’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
On climate change, Trump took one of his most provocative stances, calling it “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.” He has already moved to withdraw the US from the UN climate pact and pushed forward new drilling projects.
He also highlighted his domestic record, touting tough crime policies and warning drug traffickers that the US military would “blow you out of existence.”
Trump’s nationalist agenda has seen the US withdraw from the World Health Organization, cut development aid, and sanction foreign judges. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, opening the summit, said such aid cuts were “wreaking havoc” worldwide.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in his own address, warned of “anti-democratic forces” undermining institutions, a veiled reference to his predecessor who has drawn Trump’s support. Trump, however, said the two leaders had embraced briefly at the UN and agreed to meet next week.
The US president also met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during the summit, following his controversial Alaska meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in August. That encounter broke Moscow’s Western isolation but produced no breakthrough on Ukraine.
Meeting Zelensky, Trump said he believes Ukraine, with the support of the European Union and NATO, could win back all of the territory Russia has captured since its invasion more than three years ago, in a dramatic shift in his policy on Ukraine.
“With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform after his meeting on Tuesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Meanwhile, the US Secret Service said it disrupted a plot by “nation-state threat actors” aimed at interfering with telecommunications around the UN during the gathering.
