US President Donald Trump arrived on stage at the UN General Assembly complaining that the teleprompter was broken and an escalator had broken down on his way into the building
Donald Trump attacked the United Nations in a speech to the body’s general assembly, saying it is “not living up to its potential” and suggesting it operates in a corrupt manner.
In a lengthy rant, the US President said European countries were “going to hell” due to immigration, said global warming was a “con job”, and once again took a swipe at London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Mr Trump arrived on stage complaining that the teleprompter was broken, and that an escalator had broken down on his way into the building. Delegates and observers chuckled as he recounted having bid on the contract to refurbish the United Nations HQ in New York.
“Many years ago a very successful real estate developer in New York known as Donald J Trump, I bid on the refurbishment of this very building,” he said. “I’m going to give you marble floors… I’m going to give you mahogany furniture, they’re going to give you plastic.”
He went on: “They spent between $2 and $4 billion and didn’t even get the marble floors I was promising. Looking at the building and getting stuck on the escalator…they still haven’t finished the job.”
He claimed the bidding process was “so corrupt” that he had been asked to testify in a court case about the matter. He said: “Unfortunately many things in the United Nations are happening just like that but on a much bigger scale, it’s sad to see.”
He listed the seven wars he claims to have prevented or ended, but criticised the UN for “failing” to offer to help.
“It’s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the UN doing them,” he said. “And sadly in all cases the UN did not even try to help in any of them. I never even received a phone call from the UN offering to help in finalising the deal.”
He went on: “All I got from the UN was an escalator that stopped in the middle, if the First Lady hadn’t been in great shape she would have fallen. And now a teleprompter that doesn’t work. That’s what I got from the United Nations, a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter.”
The US President added: “What is the purpose of the United Nations? The UN has such tremendous potential…but it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential. For the most part all they do is write a strongly worded letter.”
Trump also took a swipe at Europe over immigration, saying: “You’re countries are going to hell.
He said: “Europe is in serious trouble. They’ve been invaded by a force of illegal aliens like nobody’s ever seen before and nobody’s doing anything to get them out. It’s not sustainable.
He took aim at London Mayor Sadiq Khan, with whom he has a long-running feud. He said: “You look at London where you have a terrible mayor, a terrible, terrible mayor. It’s changed. Now they want to go to Sharia law. In another country. You can’t do that.”
Trump also took a swipe at UN delegates who recognised Palestinian Statehood at a special meeting last night. “The rewards would be too great for Hamas atrocities,” he said. “The reward would be too great for these terrible tragedies.”
He added: “Instead of giving in to [Hamas’] ransom demands, we should have one message: release the hostages now.”
Delegates and observers applauded for the first time in his speech in response to this message. He added: “We have to stop the war in Gaza immediately, we’ve got to get it done.”