President Donald Trump sharply criticized the United Nations during a wide-ranging speech before the U.N. General Assembly, Tuesday, saying the only the two things he ever got from the U.N. was “a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter.”
Trump however assured U.N. Secretary General António Guterres that the U.S. is “behind the United Nations 100 percent.”
“I may disagree with it sometimes but I am so behind it because I think the potential for peace for this institution is so great,” Trump told Guterres.
Ahead of the speech, anti-Trump activists gathered near the U.N. building in Manhattan, with about a dozen agitators arrested for blocking an intersection.
During his remarks, Trump took credit for ending seven “unendable wars” since returning to office, and urged Western nations to close their borders. He also urged them to abandon their green energy initiatives, calling climate change policies a “scam.”
The Trump administration has successfully negotiated deals to end the following conflicts: Armenia-Azerbaijan, Cambodia-Thailand, Israel-Iran, Rwanda-Democratic Republic of the Congo, India-Pakistan, Egypt-Ethiopia, and Serbia-Kosovo.
“It’s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them,” the president said, adding “That being the case, what is the purpose of the United Nations?”
Trump said the U.N. was “not even coming close to living up to that potential” and accused it of issuing only “empty words” instead of taking action to resolve conflicts.
Trump warned Russia that the U.S. was prepared to impose strong economic measures, including powerful tariffs, to end the war in Ukraine, and insisted European allies stop buying Russian energy. He said his team would discuss the matter later today with European leaders.
“It was supposed to be just a quick little skirmish,” Trump said. “It’s not making Russia look good. It’s making them look bad. No matter what happens from here on out, this was something that should have taken a matter of days, certainly less than a week, and they’ve been fighting for three and a half years.”
The president also called for an end to the development of all biological and nuclear weapons.
“I look at weapons that are so powerful that we just can’t ever use them,” Trump said. “If we ever use them, the world literally might come to an end. There would be no United Nations to be talking about. There would be no nothing.”
United States announced before the U.N. General Assembly meeting that they are formally recognizing a Palestinian state, Mr. Trump said that would be a “reward for these horrible atrocities, including October 7, even while they refuse to release the hostages or accept a ceasefire.”
Trump also rejected global recognition of a Palestinian state, saying Hamas has “repeatedly rejected reasonable efforts to make peace.”
“They’ve taken so much, this could have been solved long ago,” Trump declared. “But instead of giving in to Hamas’ ransom demands, those who want peace should be united with one message: Release the hostages now.”
Hamas killed 1,200 people on October 7 and took another 251 people hostage. Most of the hostages have been killed or released through earlier deals. Israel has said they believe there are about 20 captives who are still alive.
Trump reiterated “we have got to get the hostages back” to applause.
He also lamented that European nations have been destroying their heritage through open-border immigration policies.
“It’s time to end the failed experiment of open borders,” the president said. “You have to end it now. See, I can tell you. I’m really good at this stuff. Your countries are going to hell.”
Trump added that his administration has been taking “bold” action to crack down on “uncontrolled migration.”
“Once we started detaining and deporting everyone who crossed the border and removing illegal aliens from the United States, they simply stopped coming,” he said. “They’re not coming anymore.”
Trump praised El Salvador for detaining migrants on behalf of the U.S.
The president also talked about how his administration has been using the “supreme power of the United States military” to pursue drug cartels near Venezuela. So far, the U.S. military has conducted strikes against three Venezuelan drug 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,” the president declared.
Trump also delivered a strong message to countries like Great Britain that have cracked down on free speech rights.
He urged them to defend the principles of free speech and religious liberty, as practiced by the U.S. since its founding nearly 250 years ago.
“Together, let us defend free speech and free expression,” the president said. “Let us protect religious liberty including for the most persecuted religion on the planet today. It’s called Christianity.”
The speech lasted nearly an hour and was delivered partly off-script after a teleprompter malfunction.
“I don’t mind making this speech without a teleprompter, because the teleprompter is not working,” he said, to laughs. “I feel very happy to be up here with you nevertheless, and that way you speak more from the heart. I can only say that whoever is operating this teleprompter is in big trouble,” Trump added to more laughs.
Trump drew laughs later on while expressing his disappointment with the UN over its failure to assist with peace negotiations in global conflicts.
“I ended seven wars, dealt with the leaders of these countries and never even received a phone call from the United Nations offering to help in finalizing the deal,” Trump said. “All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that on the way up stopped right in the middle.”
“If the first lady wasn’t in great shape she would’ve fallen. But she’s in great shape, we’re both in good shape. We both stood,” he added, drawing more laughter.
“These are the two things I got from the United Nations: a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter,” he joked.