US President Donald Trump blasted the United Nations and Europe on his return to the world body Tuesday, accusing the world body of failing to help him to broker a series of peace deals, including in Gaza and Ukraine
He also warned that Western countries were “going to hell” because of migration and calling climate change a “con job.”
In a blistering speech during his first UN General Assembly appearance since his White House comeback, Trump asked, “What is the purpose of the United Nations?”
Trump in a wide-ranging speech lasting nearly an hour said, “It has such tremendous potential but it’s not even coming close to living up to that.”
Trump’s first speech to the UN back in 2018 saw fellow leaders laughing at the Republican, but this time his full-frontal attack on the global organisation and US allies was received in near total silence.
The 79-year-old’s litany of complaints even extended to a broken escalator and teleprompter at the New York headquarters of the UN, which he has repeatedly targeted during both of his presidential terms.
“These are the two things I got from the United Nations: a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter,” he said.
‘Going to hell’
Trump began his speech by criticizing the UN for failing to get involved in what he claims are seven wars that he has ended, or in his failed efforts to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza.
“All they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter,” he said. “It’s empty words, and empty words don’t solve war.”
He then called recognition by a slate of Washington’s allies of a Palestinian state a “reward” to Hamas for “horrible atrocities “ in the armed group’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Trump had more harsh words for European allies for failing to stop oil purchases from Russia. He criticized China and India on the same score – but Moscow itself escaped relatively lightly.
His strongest language was reserved for blasting migration, one of the core political messages that has driven his two US election victories.
Trump lambasted the UN for “funding an assault” on Western nations that he described as an “invasion.”
“Your countries are going to hell,” he told European leaders.
The US president took a typically controversial stance on climate change too, calling it a “hoax” made up by “evil people.” He has pushed for oil drilling and rolled back environmental protections since returning to office.
“Climate change – it’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” said Trump.
Trump boasted of his tough crime policies, including sending troops to Washington and deadly US strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug smuggling boats.
“To every terrorist thug smuggling poisonous drugs into the United States of America, please be warned that we will blow you out of existence,” Trump said.
Trump’s second term has opened with a blaze of nationalist policies curbing cooperation with the rest of the world.
He has moved to pull the United States out of the World Health Organisation and the UN climate pact, severely curtailed US development assistance and wielded sanctions against foreign judges over rulings he sees as violating sovereignty.
Why Trump must end Gaza war – Macron
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that Trump could only win the Nobel Peace Prize if he stopped the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians over Gaza.
Macron told BFMTV in an interview from the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York that “there is only one person who could do something in the current situation — the American president.”
“I see an American president who is mobilised and who said this morning (Tuesday to the General Assembly), ‘I want peace, I will solve this conflict’. Who wants the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Peace Prize is only possible if you stop this conflict.”
“You need to pressure the Israeli government so it stops, it stops the Gaza conflict, so we finally release the hostages” held by Palestinian militant group Hamas, he said.
Macron acknowledged that even after his recognition on behalf of France of a Palestinian state at the General Assembly – a decision bitterly opposed by both Trump and Israel – it was Washington that had leverage over Israel.
“Why can he (the US president) do more than us? We do not deliver arms (to Israel) that allow the Gaza conflict to be waged,” said Macron.
He also acknowledged that a Palestinian state “will truly be created on “the day the State of Israel recognises it.”
The conflict began with the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas. Israel responded with an assault and aid blockades on the Gaza Strip.
