In his speech to the General Assembly on Tuesday, President Donald Trump criticized the United Nations, saying he had ended seven "un...
In his speech to the General Assembly on Tuesday, President Donald Trump criticized the United Nations, saying he had ended seven "unendable wars" and "it's too bad I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them."
Trump also said that the UN didn't help him make peace deals in Gaza and Ukraine when he spoke at the General Assembly for the first time since returning to the White House.
Trump asked, "What is the purpose of the United Nations?" in a speech that lasted almost an hour. "It has so much potential, but it's not even close to living up to it.""What does the United Nations do?" Trump asked. "It's not even close to living up to [its] potential."
Trump said that the U.N. is an old, useless group and that he has worked to end "seven wars" on his own.Trump said, "It's too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them." "I ended seven wars, talked to the leaders of each of these countries, and never once got a call from the United Nations offering to help finalize the deal."
Trump said the organization has "tremendous potential" but is not living up to it. He started his speech by complaining about a broken teleprompter and an escalator that had broken down just before he entered the building.
Even though Trump talked about wanting peace and the Nobel Peace Prize, his words were typically aggressive. He told European leaders that their inaction was "destroying" their countries and their heritage. He told drug cartels that he would "blow you out of existence." The president made it clear that America is now very different from the rest of the world on many issues. He said that recognizing Palestinian statehood would be "too great a reward for Hamas" and that climate change is "the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world."Trump bragged about his tough crime policies, which included sending troops to Washington and deadly US attacks on boats that were thought to be smuggling drugs from Venezuela.
Trump said, "To every terrorist thug who is bringing poisonous drugs into the United States, be warned that we will blow you up."Trump's second term has started with a lot of nationalist policies that make it harder for the US to work with other countries.
He has tried to get the US out of the World Health Organization and the UN climate agreement, cut US development aid by a lot, and put sanctions on foreign judges for decisions he thinks violate US sovereignty.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the annual summit by saying that aid cuts led by the United States were "wreaking havoc" around the world.
In his speech, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva warned of "anti-democratic forces" going after institutions after his predecessor was accused of plotting a coup and getting support from Trump.But Trump said that he and Lula hugged briefly at the UN and agreed to meet again next week.
Trump will meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine for the second time since he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska in August. That meeting broke Moscow's isolation in the West, but nothing got done.
Before Trump's speech, the US Secret Service said they had stopped a plot that involved "nation-state threat actors" to possibly disrupt communications around the UN.