Trump blasts United Nations for being ineffective, says ‘empty words don’t help end wars’
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Trump blasts United Nations for being ineffective, says ‘empty words don’t help end wars’")
US President Donald Trump addressing the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday Photograph: (Screengrab from video)
President Donald Trump took credit for ending seven wars, listing conflicts ranging from Pakistan and India to Israel and Iran’s 12-day war and said, “It’s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them,” as he questioned the very purpose of the UN.
US President Donald Trump started his speech at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday by slamming the organisation. Trump claimed that he had ended “seven unendable wars” in the last seven months without any help from the UN.
“I had to end wars instead of the United Nations. I’ve always said the UN has such tremendous, tremendous potential. But it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential,” Trump said.
“For the most part, at least for now, all they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter and then never follow that letter. It’s empty words and empty words don’t solve war.”
What is the purpose of the UN, Trump asks
Trump took credit for ending seven wars, listing conflicts ranging from Pakistan and India to Israel and Iran’s 12-day war.
"It’s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them,” he said as he questioned the very purpose of the UN. "Not only is the U.N. not solving the problems it should—too often, it is actually creating new problems.... The United Nations is finding an assault on Western countries and their borders... The U.N. is supposed to stop invasions—not create them and not finance them."
He then suggested other nations follow the United States approach instead. “A dramatically better future is within our reach. But to get there, we must reject the failed approaches of the past and work together to confront some of the greatest threats in history.”
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Trump cites broken equipment to underscore UN’s inefficacy
US President Trump referred to a broken escalator and a teleprompter glitch to underscore his complaints about the United Nations.
“These are the two things I got from the United Nations, a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter,” he said.
While coming to the UN building on New York’s East River earlier, the escalator stopped as Trump and Melania were riding up.
“If the first lady wasn’t in great shape, she would have fallen, but she’s in great shape,” he said.
Later, Trump recalled his failed bid to renovate the UN headquarters in the 2010s, bemoaning they went with terrazzo floors rather than the marble he proposed.
“They still haven’t finished the job,” he said, returning to the broken escalator.
WATCH: BREAKING: Trump Addresses UN For General Assembly, Hails 'Golden Age of America'
‘United Nations funding the migration crisis’
Trump also accused the United Nations of funding the migration crisis, and said, “Not only is the UN not solving the problems it should, too often it’s actually creating new problems for us to solve. The best example is the number-one political issue of our time: the crisis of uncontrolled migration.”
“The United Nations is funding an assault on Western countries and their borders,” he added.
Trump further said that UN assistance for migrants helped people illegally enter the US, “and then we have to get them out. The UN also provided food, shelter, transportation, and debit cards to illegal aliens.”
The UN is supposed to protect countries from “invasions” and “not create them and not finance them,” Trump added.
“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.
Trump further said that there was a lack of effort to curb migration in Europe. “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’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.”
The United Nations has a refugee agency that helps provide assistance to displaced people.
