US President Donald Trump’s hour-long address at the United Nations General Assembly in New York was full of mockery, bizarre tangents and praises for his own accomplishments.
He spent a considerable amount of time criticising the UN for its “bad teleprompter and bad building” and failure to stop international conflicts, leaving it up to him to end seven “unendable” wars.
Maybe his most shocking line was when he told world leaders, “Your countries are going to hell” if they did not crack down on migration.
If you don’t have the time to sit through the entire speech, fret not. Here is a compilation of some of the president’s most notable lines.
‘Whoever’s operating this teleprompter is in big trouble’
Trump’s speech was off to a rocky start due to some temporary teleprompter issues.
He didn’t seem to mind and said this was an opportunity to “speak more from the heart”.
“I don’t mind making this speech without a teleprompter because the teleprompter is not working,” he said.
“I feel very happy to be up here with you, nevertheless, and that way, you speak more from the heart. I can only say that whoever’s operating this teleprompter is in big trouble.”
The teleprompter was ultimately fixed.
‘We’re the hottest country’
This is a line that we heard quite a bit during his address.
“Just eight months into my administration, we’re the hottest country anywhere in the world, and there is no other country even close,” he said.
Trump was unabashedly boastful, patting himself on the back for building the “greatest economy in the history of the world”.
“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,” he said.
The president spoke about a “prosperous” world during his first term, which descended into “weakness, lawlessness and radicalisation” under the former Biden administration.
‘I want to thank the country of El Salvador’
The president threw in a shoutout to El Salvador for taking in people the US has deported, including people who are not from El Salvador and who do not appear to be criminals.
They have been held in a controversial prison – the Centre for Terrorism Confinement.
“I want to thank the country of El Salvador for the successful and professional job they’ve done in receiving and jailing so many criminals that entered our country,” he said.
“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.”
‘I have ended seven unendable wars’
Trump has criticised the UN for its failure to stop global conflicts and leaving it up to him to end several wars.
“In a period of just seven months, I have ended seven unendable wars,” he said.
“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 finalising the deal.”
Trump does get credit for hosting peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan after nearly four decades of war.
The conflict in Congo and Rwanda continues, however, despite Trump’s peace effort.
India has rejected the idea that Trump ended its short-lived conflict with Pakistan.
The ceasefire between Iran and Israel was also negotiated by Qatar and came only after Israel violated Trump’s previous ceasefire announcement.
Neither Kosovo and Serbia nor Ethiopia and Egypt were technically at war during Trump’s term.
This building needs work
Trump first criticised the bad teleprompter, and now, he is going after the escalator.
“All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that on the way up, stopped right in the middle,” Trump said.
“If the first lady wasn’t in great shape, she would have fallen, but she’s in great shape. We’re both in good shape. We both stood.
“These are the two things I got from the United Nations: a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter.”
Trump appeared to dislike the UN’s headquarters building. We will learn more on this shortly.
‘What is the purpose of the United Nations?’
The mockery of the UN continues.
“What is the purpose of the United Nations? The UN has 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, for the most part,” he said.
“At least for now, all they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter and then never follow that letter up.
“It’s empty words, and empty words don’t solve war. The only thing that solves war and wars is action.”
Trump is heralding his own peace efforts.
He, however, has failed to stop the war in Gaza and Ukraine he promised to end as a presidential candidate.
‘Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize’
Several world leaders have endorsed the idea of awarding Trump the Nobel Peace Prize over high-profile diplomatic efforts.
If he wins, he would be the fifth US president to do so.
But in his speech, Trump said he does not care about winning prizes.
“Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize for each one of these achievements,” he said.
“But for me, the real prize will be the sons and daughters who live to grow up with their mothers and fathers because millions of people are no longer being killed in endless and unglorious wars.
“What I care about is not winning prizes; it’s saving lives. We save millions and millions of lives with the seven wars. And we have others that we’re working on. And you know that.”
Seriously, this building
And he’s gone right back to the UN building.
He revealed he had actually bid on rebuilding the headquarters, but they went in a different direction.
“Many years ago, a very successful real estate developer in New York, known as Donald J. Trump, I bid on the renovation and rebuilding of this very United Nations complex,” he said.
“But they decided to go in another direction, which was much more expensive at the time and which actually produced a far inferior product.
“It was going to cost them a fortune. And I said, and wait till you see the overruns. Well, I turned out to be right.
“They had massive cost overruns and spent between 2 and 4 billion dollars on the building and did not even get the marble floors that I promised them. You walk on terrazzo. Do you notice that?
“As far as I’m concerned, frankly, looking at the building and getting stuck on the escalator, they still haven’t finished the job.
“The project was so corrupt that Congress actually asked me to testify before them on the tremendous waste of money.
“Unfortunately, many things in the United Nations are happening just like that, but on an even much bigger scale. Much, much bigger. Very sad to see.”
The US is in the minority by not recognising a Palestinian state
Trump spoke about the recognition of Palestinian statehood a day after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined France, the UK, Belgium and several other countries in formally confirming their support.
“As if to encourage continued conflict, some of this body is seeking to unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state,” he said.
“The rewards would be too great for Hamas’ terrorists for their atrocities… but instead of giving in to Hamas’ ransom demands, those who want peace should be united with one message: Release the hostages now. Just release the hostages now.”
More than 150 of the 193 UN-recognised countries have recognised Palestine as a state.
Stop doing business with Russia
“Even NATO countries have not cut off much Russian energy and Russian energy products, which, as you know, I found out about two weeks ago and I wasn’t happy. Think of it — they’re funding the war against themselves,” he said.
“Who the hell ever heard of that one?”
Europe does indeed continue to import oil from Russia but far less than before the war, when Russia was Europe’s largest oil importer.
The US continues to import things like fertiliser from Russia, according to a CNN report.
‘Ending the development of biological weapons’
Trump has used his speech to announce his plan to end biological weapons.
“Just a few years ago, reckless experiments overseas gave us a devastating global pandemic, yet despite that worldwide catastrophe, many countries are continuing the extremely risky research into bio-weapons and manmade pathogens,” he said.
“This is unbelievably dangerous.”
He added that he wanted to hold a biological weapons convention.
“To prevent potential disasters, I’m announcing today that my administration will lead an international effort to enforce biological weapons convention, which is going to be meeting with the top leaders of the world by pioneering an AI verification system that everyone can trust,” he said.
“Hopefully, the UN can play a constructive role, and it will also go — be one of the early projects under AI.
“Let’s see how good it is, ’cause a lot of people are saying it could be one of the great things ever, but it also can be dangerous, but it can be put to tremendous use and tremendous good. And this would be an example of that.”
‘You’re destroying your countries’
Trump tackles the issue of migration in Europe.
“We have reasserted that America belongs to the American people, and I encourage all countries to take their own stand in defence of their citizens as well,” he said.
“You have to do that because I see it. I’m not mentioning names. I see it, and I can call every single one of them out. 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.
“Nobody has ever — and nobody’s doing anything to change it, to get them out. It’s not sustainable. And because they choose to be politically correct, they’re doing just absolutely nothing about it.”
‘Your countries are going to hell’
In arguably one of the most jarring lines in his entire speech, Trump tells the world leaders that their countries are going to hell.
“It’s time to end the failed experiment of open borders,” he said.
“You have to end it now. It’s — I can tell you. I’m really good at this stuff. Your countries are going to hell.”
‘We will blow you out of existence’
“We’ve recently begun using the supreme power of the United States military to destroy Venezuelan terrorists and trafficking networks led by Nicolás Maduro,” he said, speaking about blowing up boats in the Caribbean.
“To every terrorist thug smuggling poisonous drugs into the United States of America, please be warned that we will blow you out of existence.
“That’s what we’re doing. We have no choice.”
There’s a very real question about whether Trump should be asking Congress for authority to make these strikes and whether they violate international law.
‘It’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world’
Trump said green energy is the “greatest con job”.
“All green is all bankrupt. That’s what it represents. And it’s not politically correct, I’ll be very badly criticised for saying it, but I’m here to tell the truth,” he said.
“I don’t care, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m in New York City. I’m feeling a lot safer.
“It’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion. Climate change, no matter what happens, you’re involved in that. No more global warming, no more global cooling.”
Trump blamed the UN for raising the alarm about climate change.
“All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong,” he said.
“They were made by stupid people that have cost their countries fortunes and given those same countries no chance for success. If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail.”
He also went on the attack against what he called the “falsely named renewables”.
“By the way, they’re a joke. They don’t work. They’re too expensive; they’re not strong enough to fire up the plants that you need to make your country great,” he said.
“The wind doesn’t blow. Those big windmills are so pathetic and so bad, so expensive to operate, and they have to be rebuilt all of the time and they start to rust and rot.”
‘I’ve been right about everything’
Trump said he is “really good about predicting things”.
“I don’t say that in a braggadocious way, but it’s true,” he said.
“I’ve been right about everything. And I’m telling you that if you don’t get away from the green energy scam, your country is going to fail.
“And if you don’t stop people that you’ve never seen before, that you have nothing in common with, your country is going to fail.
“I’m the president of the United States but I worry about Europe. I love Europe, I love the people of Europe, and I hate to see it being devastated by energy and immigration.”
Stop being nice and politically correct
Trump drew together the ideas of climate change and immigration.
“You want to be nice, you want to be politically correct, and you’re destroying your heritage,” he said.
“They must take control strongly and immediately of the unmitigated immigration disaster and the fake energy catastrophe before it’s too late.
“The carbon footprint is a hoax made up by people with evil intentions, and they’re heading down a path of total destruction.”
‘They want to kill all the cows’
Trump has made an argument against doing anything at all about the climate.
“So all of these countries are working so hard on the carbon footprint, which is nonsense, by the way. It’s nonsense,” he said.
“In the United States, we have, still, radicalised environmentalists, and they want the factories to stop.
“Everything should stop. No more cows. “We don’t want cows anymore.” I guess they want to kill all the cows.”
Cow farts produce methane, and it is a major climate change issue, but there is no serious talk about killing all the cows.
Bizarre standing order in the White House
It’s a bizarre standing order, but Trump has made everyone in the White House refer to coal as “clean, beautiful coal”.
“I have a little standing order in the White House — never use the word “coal,” only use the words, “clean, beautiful coal.” It sounds much better, doesn’t it?, he said.
Make the World Great Again?
He ended his hour-long speech with a blueprint on how the world can be ‘great again’, drawing reference to his Make America Great Again movement.
“In closing, I just want to repeat that immigration and the high cost of so-called green renewable energy is destroying a large part of the free world, and a large part of our planet,” he said.
“Countries that cherish freedom are fading fast because of their policies on these two subjects. You need strong borders and traditional energy sources if you are going to be great again.”
– Reported with CNN