Trump Takes Aim at Globalist Agendas in UN Speech

NEW YORK CITY—President Donald Trump on Sept. 23 criticized the United Nations, denouncing what he called its globalist agendas on immigration and green energy, labeling them as a “double-tailed monster” in his address to the U.N. General Assembly in New York City.

He warned member states that such policies are “destroying a large part of the free world.”

In his nearly hour-long speech, Trump first accused the international body of failing to solve the problems it was meant to address, such as ending conflicts, saying it is creating new ones.

“The best example is the No. 1 political issue of our time: the crisis of uncontrolled migration,” Trump said. “Your countries are being ruined.”

The U.S. president said the U.N. was “funding an assault on Western countries” by offering cash support, food, shelter, and other assistance to migrants.

He then criticized the U.N.’s “so-called green renewable energy” agenda. Globalism has placed a larger burden on developed nations to reduce their impact on the environment, he noted, while other nations continue to pollute heavily.

A few times, he singled out European nations, warning them not to follow such agendas.

“I love Europe. I love the people of Europe. … You’re doing it because you want to be nice, you want to be politically correct, and you’re destroying your heritage,” Trump said.

“The entire globalist concept of asking successful industrialized nations to inflict pain on themselves and radically disrupt their entire societies must be rejected completely and totally, and it must be immediate.”

This year’s meeting marks the 80th anniversary of the U.N. and is held under the theme “Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights.”

Trump has been a vocal critic of the international body, questioning its effectiveness in solving international conflicts. After he took office, the United States pulled out of or cut funding to multiple U.N. organizations.

‘Release the Hostages Now’

Ahead of Trump’s U.N. General Assembly speech, U.S. allies, including the UK, France, Australia, and Canada, announced that they would recognize a Palestinian state amid the ongoing Israel–Hamas war, which started after the Gaza-based terrorist group launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. During the Hamas attack, terrorists killed approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted more than 250. Currently, dozens of hostages remain in Gaza.

Trump criticized the U.S. allies for the move.

“Instead of giving in to Hamas’s ransom demands, those who want peace should be united with one message: Release the hostages now,” he said.

During his speech, Trump also warned the European and NATO allies not to continue to buy sanctioned Russian oil, calling it “embarrassing.”

“They have to immediately cease all energy purchases from Russia. Otherwise, we’re all wasting a lot of time,” he said.

Trump also said he stands ready to impose harsh new tariffs targeting Russia if he decides that Moscow isn’t ready to make a deal to end the more than three-year conflict.

The last time that Trump addressed the General Assembly from the same podium was in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, he called on the international community to hold China accountable for the outbreak of the virus in the city of Wuhan and for the subsequent cover-up.

Trump warned that risky research into bioweapons and man-made pathogens continues despite the global pandemic and announced that his administration would lead an international effort to enforce the Biological Weapons Convention.

Broken Teleprompter, Stalled Escalator

Before his address, Trump greeted foreign leaders and dignitaries at the U.N. with jokes about a teleprompter and escalator that were not functioning properly at the organization’s New York City building.

“I don’t mind making the speech without a teleprompter,” he joked before his speech. “I can only say whoever is operating this teleprompter is in big trouble.”

Trump, in his speech, claimed credit for ending seven wars.

“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,” he said.

“All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that, on the way up, stopped right in the middle.”

Trump later wrote on Truth Social that a broken teleprompter and a stalled escalator both made his U.N. speech likely “more interesting,” and he called it an honor to speak there, “even if their equipment is somewhat faulty.”

Travis Gillmore, Ryan Morgan, and Savannah Hulsey Pointer contributed to this report.