September 23, 2025 – by Heather Cox Richardson

In New York City this morning, the United Nations opened its General Assembly, marking the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations itself. The day began with a General Debate, the meeting in which heads of state and government outline their positions and priorities in an era of changing and complex global challenges.

Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres opened the debate, reminding the audience that leaders who had lived through the horrors of World War II had created the organization to prevent another such conflagration by establishing “cooperation over chaos, law over lawlessness, peace over conflict.” It was, he said, “a practical strategy for the survival of humanity.”

“Eighty years on,” he said, “we confront again the question our founders faced—only more urgent, more intertwined, more unforgiving: What kind of world do we choose to build together?”

He warned: that “we have entered an age of reckless disruption,” when “the principles of the United Nations…are under siege.” Will we choose “a world of raw power—or a world of laws? A world that is a scramble for self-interest—or a world where nations come together? A world where might makes right—or a world of rights for all?”

Guterres urged member states to choose “peace rooted in international law,” “human dignity and human rights,” “climate justice,” “to put technology at the service of humanity,” and “to strengthen the United Nations for the 21st century.”

Guterres recalled that his youth in Portugal was spent “in the darkness of dictatorship, where fear silenced voices and hope was nearly crushed. Yet, even in the bleakest hours—especially then—I discovered a truth that has never left me: power does not reside in the hands of those who dominate or divide. Real power resides from people, from our shared resolve to uphold dignity, to defend equality, to believe—fiercely—in our common humanity, and the potential of every human being.

“I learned early to persevere. To speak out. To refuse to surrender, no matter the challenge, no matter the obstacle, no matter the hour. We must—and we will—overcome.”

President Donald J. Trump also addressed the gathered world leaders, guests of the United States.

He began by complaining that the teleprompter wasn’t working, and also mentioned that an escalator on which he and First Lady Melania Trump had been riding had stopped shortly after they stepped onto it.

Trump’s speech went on to depict a fantasy world in which he had single-handedly saved the world. He claimed to have forged peace on two continents during his first term but said that “era of calm and stability gave way to one of the great crises of our time.” He then turned to the United States, claiming that “four years of weakness, lawlessness, and radicalism under the last administration delivered our nation into a repeated set of disasters. One year ago,” he said, “our country was in deep trouble, but today, just eight months into my administration, we are the hottest country anywhere in the world and there is no other country even close. America is blessed with 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.”

And that was the frame for the next hour of rambling boasts and insults.

Trump claimed that he had reversed the “economic calamity” left by former president Joe Biden. He had brought down costs and inflation, he said, and economic growth and manufacturing were both booming. He claimed that in his four years, Biden had attracted less than $1 trillion in investment while he had secured $17 trillion. Tax cuts and deregulation had, he said, made the U.S. “the best country on earth to do business.”

“In my first term, I built the greatest economy in the history of the world,” he said. “We had the best economy ever, history of the world, and I’m doing the same thing again, but this time it’s actually much bigger and even better. The numbers far surpass my record-setting first term.”

Trump claimed: “On the world stage, America is respected again like it has never been respected before. You think about two years ago, three years ago, four years ago, or one year ago, we were a laughingstock all over the world.

He claimed that his administration “has negotiated one historic trade deal after another” and that “in a period of just seven months, I have ended seven unendable wars. They said they were unendable. You’re never going to get them solved…. 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. Very honored to have done it.”

He went on: “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. 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. 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’ve fallen. But she’s in great shape. We’re both in good shape, we both stood.”

He then turned back to the United Nations. “That being the case, what is the purpose of the United Nations? The U.N. is such tremendous potential. I’ve always said it. It has such tremendous, tremendous potential, but it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential.”

He claimed that “[e]veryone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize,” and after detouring into a complaint that the United Nations had not chosen him to renovate the U.N. complex years ago, he attacked the U.N. for “not solving the problems it should,” as well as “creating new problems for us to solve.”

Then he turned to the white nationalist program of his administration. He blamed “uncontrolled migration” for ruining “your countries,” and blamed the United Nations for funding that migration. “In the United States, we reject the idea that mass numbers of people from foreign lands can be permitted to travel halfway around the world, trample our borders, violate our sovereignty, cause unmitigated crime, and deplete our social safety net,” he said. “You’re destroying your countries. They’re being destroyed. Europe is in serious trouble. They’ve been invaded by a force of illegal aliens like nobody’s ever seen before. Illegal aliens are pouring into Europe, and nobody’s doing anything to change it, to get them out. It’s not sustainable.”

He claimed that London has “a terrible, terrible mayor”—Mayor Sadiq Khan is Muslim and is of Pakistani descent—that it is “so changed, so changed,” and that “they” want “Sharia law.” He went on at great length about how immigration is destroying Europe and how dangerous and criminal immigrants are. He told the attendees: “I’m really good at this stuff. Your countries are going to hell.”

Then he turned to another of his priorities: fossil fuels. “Energy is another area where the United States is now thriving like never before,” he said. “We’re getting rid of the falsely named renewables.” After another long harangue about renewable energy, he said: “If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail. And I’m really good at predicting things. They actually said during the campaign, they had a hat, the best-selling hat: Trump was right about everything. And I don’t say that in a braggadocious way, but it’s true. I’ve been right about everything.”

The speech was a dark fantasy of narcissism and Christian nationalism that struck at the heart of the very concept of the United Nations. In its wake, some journalists demolished Trump’s wild claims, while others bemoaned his destruction of diplomacy by berating our friends and allies while they were guests in our country. But it was foreign affairs journalist Ishaan Tharoor who captured the larger story of Trump’s speech.

“A senior foreign diplomat posted at the U.N. texts me,” Tharoor wrote, “‘This man is stark, raving mad. Do Americans not see how embarrassing this is?’”

Trump loyalists turned tonight to the idea that someone had sabotaged the president by stopping the escalator and the teleprompter. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Channel personality Jesse Watters that it looked like sabotage and she would personally see to it that there would be accountability, and Trump loyalist senator Mike Lee (R-UT) called for defunding the U.N. for “orchestrating escalator and teleprompter malfunctions.”

The United Nations correspondent for the Associated Press, Farnoush Amiri, reported that “[a] UN official said the UN understands that someone from the president’s party who ran ahead of him inadvertently triggered the stop mechanism on the escalator. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the White House was operating the teleprompter for Trump.”

—

Notes:

https://www.un.org/en/high-level-week-2025

https://gadebate.un.org/en/80/secretary-general-united-nations

https://www.rev.com/transcripts/trump-speaks-at-un

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