In a forceful speech during his first UN General Assembly appearance since his White House comeback, Trump accused the United Nations of failing to help him as he tried to broker peace deals including in Gaza and Ukraine.
“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” asked Trump in a wide-ranging speech lasting nearly an hour. “It has such tremendous potential, but it’s not even coming close to living up to that.”
Trump’s fieriest words of the speech were on migration, as he advised the world to follow his lead on one of the core political messages that drove his two U.S. election victories. Trump lambasted the UN for “funding an assault” on Western nations that he described as an “invasion,” and warned European leaders
Your countries are going to hell.
Trump also criticized the UN for failing to get involved in what he claims are seven wars that he has ended, or in his failed attempts to end Russia’s war in 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.”
On Gaza, a subject that has dominated the UN summit, Trump called recognition of a Palestinian state by European allies such as France and the UK a “reward” to Hamas for its October 7, 2023 pogrom.
After the speech, he met with Ukraine’s wartime leader Volodymyr Zelensky and caused surprise by announcing a short while later that he now thought Kyiv could regain all its territory invaded by Russia—a complete shift from his previous position.
