‘What Is the Purpose?’ Trump Attacks the UN in Blistering Speech at the UN
President Donald Trump unsparingly ripped the United Nations as weak and unhelpful ingrates — and even questioned why the international organization continues to exist — while addressing the UN General Assembly on Tuesday in New York City.
The president skewered the UN, saying “they weren’t there for us” when the U.S. needed them. Until recently, Trump said he was “too busy” saving millions of lives to notice the UN was doing nothing to help him solve “seven un-endable wars” that he ended up ending. Now that he has noticed, Trump said he had to call them out for doing squat.
“It’s too bad I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them,” Trump said. “And sadly, in all cases, the United Nations did not even try to help, in any of them. I ended seven wars, dealt with the leaders of each and every one of these countries, and never even received a phone call from the United Nations offering to help in finalizing the deal.”
Trump pointed to conflicts between Cambodia and Thailand and Israel and Iran as wars he thwarted since returning to office in Jan. He then questioned why the UN is still around, 80 years after it was founded.
“What is the purpose of the United Nations? The UN has such tremendous potential. I’ve always said it… but it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential, for the most part,” Trump said. “At least for now, all they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter, and then never follow that letter up. It’s empty words, and empty words don’t solve war. The only thing that solves war and wars is action.”
At one point, the president drew a good amount of chuckles from the crowd when he made fun of the UN for only giving him two things — a broken teleprompter on Tuesday and a “bad escalator.” He also got some laughs for quipping he was in “good shape” like First Lady Melania Trump.
“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 have fallen. But she’s in great shape. We’re both in good shape — and then a teleprompter that didn’t work. These are the two things I got from the United Nations: a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter. Thank you very much,” Trump said.
Other standout moments from his UN speech on Tuesday include the president lobbying for the Nobel Peace Prize.
You can watch the president tear into the UN at the UN above, via Fox News.
