EDITORIAL: The bizarre spectacle that unfolded on September 23 as US President Donald Trump addressed world leaders at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly was typical of his style: laden with demonstrable untruths, his customary but entirely unwarranted self-praise and a dangerously myopic worldview that equates might with right.
True to form, the president reduced the world’s foremost diplomatic stage to a campaign rally echo chamber, reprising his greatest hits — from anti-immigration rants to dismissing climate change as a “con job”, from eviscerating the UN as a toothless body incapable of stopping wars to conveniently ignoring that it is often US policies that have fuelled conflicts and Washington’s veto power at the UN Security Council that has obstructed efforts to end hostilities, as in the case of Gaza.
In a nearly hour-long address, President Trump’s performance veered from the comical to the chilling, particularly for those who still believe in a world order anchored in law. Much of his ire was directed at European liberal democracies, which he accused of destroying themselves by allowing in what he believes is an unending tide of immigrants.
He exhorted them to emulate the US’ recent approach to immigration that has seen unbridled powers being vested in Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has launched a sweeping, sometimes violent, crackdown on immigrants, and frequently operates in legally questionable ways. His statement that “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” presents an argument as illogical as it is divisive, as by that standard the US itself, built on waves of migrants, should never have survived, let alone become the most prosperous country in the world.
Equally dangerous was his climate-sceptic worldview, as he railed against what he derided as the “green energy agenda”, warning that it would bring about Europe’s ruin and dismissed climate change — arguably the greatest existential challenge confronting humanity today — as nothing more than a “hoax”. To hear such reckless claims from the leader of the world’s most powerful nation is alarming enough; to hear them from the vantage point of Pakistan, a country reeling from devastating floods triggered by melting glaciers and shifting weather patterns is entirely ominous.
The president’s self-praise extended to the almost ludicrous claim of having ended seven wars in recent months, never mind his reckless decision to bomb Iranian nuclear sites or his failure to resolve the two most intractable conflicts of our time, in Gaza and Ukraine, despite pledging to end them upon taking office.
While his role in brokering a truce between India and Pakistan, and easing tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan deserves acknowledgment, these successes cannot mask the impetuousness and unfulfilled promises that continue to define his foreign policy.
In characteristic fashion, President Trump could not resist indulging his customary Islamophobia while reigniting his long-running feud with London Mayor Sadiq Khan, whom he dismissed as a “terrible” mayor before accusing him of seeking to impose Shariah on the city. In resorting to prejudice and spewing conspiracy theories on a global stage, he revealed once more how ill-suited he is to engage in the serious business of statesmanship.
It goes without saying then; that rather than presenting a constructive vision for the future, President Trump’s address was an exercise in self-congratulation, peddling baseless claims and hostility towards global cooperation. His contempt for multilateral institutions, disparagement of migrants and denial of climate science reveals a vision rooted in division, fear and myopia. At a time that calls for global solidarity, this approach weakens multilateral bonds and signals a troubling abdication of the US’ traditional role in global leadership.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
