Yesterday’s UN speech wasn’t diplomacy – it was political vandalism performed on the world stage.
Well, there you have it. Yesterday’s United Nations General Assembly got the full Trump treatment; an hour-long diplomatic colonoscopy that left world leaders squirming and democracy itself in need of emergency surgery.
Our tangerine-tinted protagonist strutted into the world’s premier diplomatic forum like a wrecking ball in an ill-fitting suit, delivering what can only be described as a masterclass in how to alienate allies while lying with breathtaking audacity. Less “leader of the free world,” more “drunk uncle at Christmas dinner”; if that uncle controlled the world’s largest military and entertained Nobel Prize fantasies between belches.
The curtain-raiser was pure farce: the teleprompter failed; a metaphor so fitting that even Nostradamus would have dismissed it as crass. Did Trump miss a beat? Of course not. Heads will roll, of course. Trump turned a minor glitch into yet another grievance and whinge-fest against the UN, as though broken escalators and terrazzo floors were personal insults to the Trump dynasty.
The Festering Wen of Diplomatic Contempt
What followed was a symphony of narcissism that would make Caligula grope for the mute button. Trump spent precious minutes relitigating a 2005 UN renovation contract that went to someone else; proving, yet again, that his memory for slights is more exhaustive than the Vatican archives. Here’s a man who forgets his breakfast order but remembers every terrazzo tile that wasn’t marble two decades ago.
Then came the real kicker: he claimed to have “ended seven wars.” This from the man who presided over drone strikes, botched withdrawals, and ongoing conflict zones. It was the diplomatic equivalent of boasting you’re the world’s greatest chef while the kitchen burns down around you. Mission accomplished, indeed; premature, presumptuous, and spectacularly wrong.
Climate Denial as Foreign Policy
But the radge orange bampot’s pièce de résistance was his climate tantrum. Declaring global warming “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world” while addressing island nations already watching their land disappear beneath the sea requires a sociopathic level of chutzpah. It’s like telling bushfire victims that the smoke is just morning mist as the flames consume their homes.
His fix for Europe’s energy woes? More air conditioning and “clean, beautiful coal.” This is the environmental equivalent of treating gangrene with more infection; prescribed by Dr. Feelgood in chief.
Windmills? “Pathetic.” Solar panels? A “scam.” Photosynthesis? One suspects he’d call it a hoax by Big Tree. His grasp of renewables makes a coal baron look like Greta Thunberg.
The Hollow Echo of Failed Leadership
What we witnessed wasn’t diplomacy; it was a tantrum draped in presidential privilege. “America First” has curdled into “America Alone,” leaving allies to wonder whether they’re dealing with a partner or a petulant child threatening to take his bat and ball home.
His scolding of Europeans on immigration and energy policy was particularly rich coming from a leader whose own country can’t keep its power grid humming in Texas winters or its democracy intact during a peaceful transfer of power. Taking guidance from him is like seeking marriage advice from someone on their fifth divorce; technically possible, but laughably unwise. Besides, how did Ivana Trump end up?
The Unmaking of American Soft Power
The tragedy is not just Trump’s performance, but what it signifies. American soft power; carefully cultivated through decades of diplomacy; was torched in real time. Allies watched the supposed leader of the free world convert the UN podium into a therapy couch for his unprocessed grievances.
This wasn’t statecraft; it was a public meltdown with nuclear codes attached. Every escalator became a national security issue, every marble tile a diplomatic slight. Pathetic, peevish, predictable, and now expected from America’s ongoing experiment in kakistocracy: rule by the worst.
The Reckoning
As Trump staggered off, leaving a diplomatic crater where American credibility once stood, one truth was unmistakable: he who vowed to make America great again has reduced it to a global punchline. Again.
The question is no longer whether America can recover from this latest humiliation, but whether democracy itself can withstand leaders who mistake destruction for strength, lies for truth, and tantrums for governance.
Trump’s UN performance was not diplomacy—it was political vandalism on a world stage. And the bill for front-row seats to America’s self-inflicted unravelling is being sent to all of us. The UN, was once a stage for Kennedy, Mandela, even Gough Whitlam. Yesterday, it became open-mic night at a dive bar where the drunk in the corner thinks he’s Sinatra. Trump didn’t just lower the tone; he buried it under a gold-leaf coffin lid and sold tickets to the wake. History may record this as the day the world’s most powerful democracy auditioned for a reality-TV slot called Despot Island.
Sadly, no one laughed except the autocrats.
Fact-Check Addendum: The Numbers Behind the Nonsense
A brief reality check on Trump’s UN claims, because someone has to:
El Salvador deportations: Of the 238 Venezuelans deported to El Salvador’s notorious Cecot prison, around 90% had no criminal record in the US. Most exceptions had minor offenses like shoplifting and traffic violations. Trump’s “criminals” were largely just people seeking asylum. It’s like calling jaywalkers “dangerous felons.”
“I ended seven wars”: Analysts assess this claim as “highly problematic.” The Israel-Iran ceasefire followed Trump bombing Iranian uranium facilities, and experts doubt the nuclear dispute is resolved. Many agreements appear “fragile, interim or unratified”. Meanwhile, his promised solutions for Ukraine-Russia and Gaza remain “unfulfilled.” It’s like claiming you fixed seven cars when three are still smoking and two were never broken.
Europe “going to hell” with “open borders”: “Open borders” is misleading – EU countries allow internal movement but implement “strict external border checks.” Britain ended freedom of movement entirely in 2020. Trump’s diagnosis would be more credible if he understood the patient.
European energy hypocrisy: EU oil imports from Russia are “significantly reduced” compared to pre-2022 levels, with most Russian oil banned. The countries still buying include Hungary and Slovakia – led by Trump admirers Viktor Orbán and Robert Fico. Apparently his own fanboys didn’t get the memo.
Climate change “con job”: Scientific consensus shows 91-100% of scientists agree human activity causes climate change. Renewable energy has been “found to be effective, affordable and sustainable”. Calling overwhelming scientific evidence a “con job” is like claiming gravity is a conspiracy by Big Newton.
The UN’s uselessness: The UN successfully ended the Iran-Iraq war after eight years, plus civil wars in Namibia, El Salvador, Mozambique and Cambodia. Not bad for an organization that allegedly only writes “strongly worded letters.”
The bottom line: In an hour-long speech to world leaders, Trump managed to get virtually every major claim wrong while spending significant time nursing a 20-year-old grudge about building renovation contracts. That’s not diplomacy – it’s performance art by someone who mistakes volume for authority and repetition for truth.
Urban Wronski Writes 
The New York Times informs us Trump used his address to portray himself as the only leader who could solve the world’s problems, declaring: “I’m really good at this stuff”. He also said he had resolved conflicts around the world and “sadly, in all cases, the United Nations did not even try to help in any of them”.
The paper says he also warned of a “double-headed monster” of illegal migration and a shift to renewable energy, and accused environmentalists of wanting to “kill all the cows”.
The BBC points out he told assembly members it’s time to end the ”failed experiment of open borders” and told European countries they were “going to hell”.
The Guardian highlights that Trump blamed countries buying Russian oil as the reason he didn’t end the war in Ukraine after one day in office, as he had promised during the campaign trail.
The newspaper added he also “derided several renewable energy projects and said that climate change is ‘the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world’ and means you can’t ‘get away from this green scam’. He then issued a warning to countries investing in these projects: ‘Your country is going to fail. And I’m really good at predicting things’.”
For reasons only he knows, in the very next breath he went on to talk about his MAGA hats and claimed “I’ve been right about everything”.
CNN points out Trump was laughed at when he addressed the United Nations during his first term in office, but the audience this time mostly sat in silence… Which one could write a whole scathing thesis on, but we don’t have the time.
via Crikey
https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/24/donald-trump-un-speech-albanese-meeting-andrew-hastie/
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If only it were possible to wrangle enough nations to give tRump the isolation he deserves because the Fascist Confederacy of America will have to collapse before anything remotely civilised can be reborn. The Miller ‘oration’ at St Charlie’s ‘memorial’ was more Goebbelsian than I would have thought possible, but the toxic, vengeful Miller is typical of those waiting in the wings if The Orange One is finally taken out by his overdosing on Big Macs, fries and Coke. Any nation that remains even tangentially attached to tRumpacy is looking for trouble, and that includes ‘Straya, allegedly joined at the hip to our great and powerful friend.
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You’ve nailed the heart of it – the spectacle of Miller channeling Goebbels at St Charlie’s send-off was chilling, but hardly surprising given the kind of menagerie Trump has cultivated around him. And vice versa. The problem, as you’ve hinted, is that Trump isn’t just one man; he’s a *franchise of resentment*, and whenever one head of the beast falters, another is primed to take its place.
As for “Straya”, yes, our habit of dutifully shadowing Washington – whether it’s enlightened or deranged – is one of our national reflexes. The trouble is, decoupling from our “great and powerful friend” takes more imagination and courage than Canberra has shown in recent decades. Still, history shows that even the most toxic experiments eventually burn themselves out. Economically, alone, the tariff-war mania of Mad King Donald carries the seeds of catastrophic failure. The question for us is whether we huddle at the edge of the bonfire, clapping along, or quietly take a few steps back to preserve some dignity.
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My jaw never closes, my disgust never abates, it just gets worse. A twelve year old attempting to match it with Stephen Hawking. No…the twelve year old would likely have the self awareness to shut up. The man isn’t even smart enough to realise they were all laughing. Shame on you America.
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What concerns me is the fact the leaders of our world sat there for a hour listening to him!! When any thinking person would have got up and walked out.
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1. Diplomatic Protocol Over Principle:
World leaders are trapped in centuries-old conventions that treat even the most unhinged head of state as deserving of ceremonial respect. Walking out during a presidential address would be seen as a massive diplomatic breach – the kind that triggers international incidents and damages bilateral relationships for years.
2. Fear of Retaliation:
Trump has proven he’s petty enough to punish countries economically for perceived slights. Many nations depend on US trade, military protection, or aid. Standing up to a bully is easier when you’re not worried about tariffs landing on your exports next week.
3. The “Adults in the Room” Delusion:
Many leaders probably thought they were being the mature ones by sitting through it, believing that dignified silence somehow preserved institutional credibility. It’s the same logic that kept people nodding politely through dinner party racist uncles for decades.
4. Precedent Paralysis:
If you walk out on Trump, what happens when the next problematic leader speaks? Suddenly every speech becomes a potential exodus, and the UN loses its function as a forum where even adversaries can address each other.
5. The Collective Action Problem:
Each leader probably thought “someone else should lead the walkout.” But diplomatic courage, like regular courage, requires someone to go first.
6. The Real Tragedy:
Their silence enabled Trump’s performance. Every leader who sat there while he called climate change a “con job” and their immigration policies disastrous became complicit in legitimizing diplomatic vandalism.
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What you suggest -points to cowardice on the part of our ‘leaders’ !! Add such lack of courage and America’s power of veto together and we might as well shut the UN down.
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