President Donald Trump slammed the United Nations for not aiding his administration’s peace push and for ‘creating new problems’ for the U.S. and member nations, while questioning its purpose and also offering ‘the hand of American leadership and friendship’ to all countries in the body.
The president, during his first address of his second administration to the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday, highlighted renewed American strength while slamming the international body.
‘Not only is the U.N. not solving the problems it should, it, too often, is actually creating new problems for us to solve,’ the president said. ‘The best example is the number one political issue of our time: the crisis of uncontrolled migration. It is uncontrolled. Your countries are being ruined.’
The president said the U.N. is ‘funding an assault on Western countries and their borders.’
‘The U.N. is supporting people that are illegally coming into the United States, and we have to get them out,’ Trump said. ‘The U.N. also provided food, shelter, transportation and debit cards to illegal aliens.’
He added: ‘The UN is supposed to stop invasions — not create them and not finance them.’
Trump said illegal immigrants are also ‘pouring into Europe.’
‘It is not sustainable and, because they choose to be politically correct, they are doing absolutely nothing about it,’ Trump said, later adding: ‘Your countries are going to hell. In America, we’ve taken bold action to swiftly shut down uncontrolled migration.’
‘Once we started detaining and deporting everyone who crossed the border and removing illegal aliens from the United States, they simply stop coming. They’re not coming anymore,’ Trump said, while thanking El Salvador for ‘receiving and jailing criminals’ that entered the United States.
During his address, the president highlighted his successful efforts to negotiate peace around the world —specifically Armenia and Azerbaijan, Thailand and Cambodia, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, among others.
‘I ended seven wars, and in all cases they were raging with countless, thousands of people being killed,’ he said. ‘This includes Cambodia, India, and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, the Congo and Rwanda, a vicious violent war that was Pakistan and India, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Armenia and Azerbaijan.’
He added: ‘No president or prime minister, and for that matter, no other country has ever done anything close to that. And I did it in just seven months. It’s never happened before. There’s never been anything like that.’
The president then took another swipe at the U.N.
‘I’m very honored to have done it. It’s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them. And sadly, in all cases, the United Nations did not even try to help in any of them,’ Trump continued. ‘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.’
‘I didn’t think of it at the time because I was too busy working to save millions of lives — that is, saving and stopping of these wars,’ Trump said. ‘But later, I realized that the United Nations wasn’t there for us. They weren’t there.’
‘That being the case, what is the purpose of the United Nations?’ Trump asked. ‘The U.N. has such tremendous potential … But it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential. All they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter and then never follow that letter up — it’s empty words.’
Trump added: ‘Empty words don’t solve war. The only thing that solves war and wars is action.’
Meanwhile, the president touted America under his leadership as having ‘the strongest economy, the strongest borders, the strongest military, the strongest friendships and the strongest spirit of any nation on the face of the earth.’
‘This is indeed the golden age of America,’ Trump said.
The president added that the United States is ‘once again the best country on earth to do business.’
‘And many people in this room are investing in America, and it’s turned out to be an awfully good investment during this eight-month period,’ he said.
The president touted his visit to the Middle East in May to ‘rebuild our partnerships’ in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
‘My administration has negotiated one historic trade deal after another, including with the United Kingdom, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and many, many others,’ Trump said.
The president also said that under his leadership, America is ‘respected again, like it has never been respected before.’
‘At the NATO summit in June, virtually all NATO members formally committed to increased defense spending, at my request, from 2% to 5% of GDP, making our alliance far stronger and more powerful than it was ever before,’ the president said.
The president returned to his criticisms of the United Nations, questioning if the U.N. can ‘play a productive role’ in peace around the world.
‘I’ve come here today to offer the hand of American leadership and friendship to any nation in this assembly that is willing to join us in forging a safer, more prosperous world,’ Trump said. ‘And it’s a world that will be much happier with a dramatically better future within our reach. But to get there, we must reject the failed approaches of the past and work together to confront some of the greatest threats in history.’
Trump said there is ‘no more serious danger to our planet today than the most powerful and destructive of weapons ever devised by man, of which the United States, as you know, has many.’
‘Just as I did in my first term, I’ve made containing these threats a top priority, starting with the nation of Iran. My position is very simple: The world’s number one sponsor of terror can never be allowed to possess the most dangerous weapon,’ Trump said. ‘That’s why, shortly after taking office, I sent the so-called Supreme Leader a letter making a generous offer — I extended a pledge of full cooperation in exchange for a suspension of Iran’s nuclear program.’
Trump added: ‘The regime’s answer was to continue their constant threats to their neighbors and U.S. interest throughout the region and some great countries that are right nearby.’
But Trump touted his decisiveness, and said: ‘Today, many of Iran’s former military commanders, in fact, I can say almost all of them, are no longer with us. They’re dead.’
The president highlighted his Operation Midnight Hammer, which marked the largest B-2 operational strike in history and represented the United States’ move to deliver a decisive blow against Iran’s nuclear program back in June.
The president said that he then ‘immediately brokered an end to the 12-day war, as it’s called, between Israel and Iran with both sides agreeing to fight, fight no longer.’
‘As everyone knows, I have also been deeply engaged in seeking a ceasefire in Gaza. We have to get that done — have to get it done,’ Trump said. ‘Unfortunately, Hamas has repeatedly rejected reasonable offers to make peace. We can’t forget Oct. 7, can we?’
‘Now, as if to encourage continued conflict, some of this body is seeking to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state,’ Trump continued. ‘The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists for their atrocities. This would be a reward for these horrible atrocities, including Oct. 7, even while they refuse to release the hostages or accept the ceasefire.’
Trump demanded that nations not give in to Hamas.
‘Instead of giving in to Hamas’s ransom demands, those who want peace should be united with one message: Release the hostages now,’ Trump said. ‘Just release the hostages now. We have to get it done.’
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
