Donald Trump's surreal speech at the UN General Assembly
Environment — di Andrea Barolini
Climate denial, praise for coal, closed borders, opposition to a Palestinian state: the world as Donald Trump would like it.
Donald Trump's surreal speech at the UN General Assembly
Climate denial, praise for coal, closed borders, opposition to a Palestinian state: the world as Donald Trump would like it.
Climate denial, without shame. This is how one can sum up the speech delivered on Tuesday, 23 September, by United States president Donald Trump before the United Nations General Assembly. According to the billionaire who has been in the White House since January, climate change is "the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world".
Trump calls scientists "stupid"
Meanwhile, the concept of the carbon footprint — that is, the impact of human activities in terms of CO2 emissions — is "a scam devised by people with evil intentions". "All these predictions made by the United Nations and many others," he added, "were wrong. They were made by stupid people and have cost their countries enormously."
US President Trump dismissed climate change as 'the greatest con job' in the world during his address to the United Nations General Assembly, doubling down on his skepticism of global environmental initiatives and multilateral institutions reut.rs/4mxhJMq
Rarely has a head of state gone this far. Contradicting decades of international scientific research, and doing so, even symbolically, before an audience of more than 190 representatives from nations around the world. All with arguments that would not even hold up in a bar-room debate: "They said global warming was going to kill the planet, but then it started getting colder." Confusing meteorology with climatology, in a bleak blender of anti-scientific nonsense.
Coal is "beautiful and clean" and "we can sell you as much as you want"
Trump then extolled the virtues of the fossil fuel most damaging to the climate of all: coal, calling it "beautiful and clean" and adding: "We are ready to provide all countries with abundant energy resources at affordable prices, if you need them. And most of you do." This stance on fossil fuels risks not only preventing the achievement of global climate targets, but also undoing the efforts made so far, which are already insufficient.
Trump's speech then turned its fire on the United Nations itself: "What is the UN's purpose?" the American president asked. "It has immense potential, but it doesn't even come close to getting results. It's a real shame that I've had to do things in the place of the United Nations. I ended seven wars, dealt with the leaders of each country, and the UN never even called me once to offer help."
Criticism of Europe over migration policies, opposition to recognition of a Palestinian state
The American president then rode another theme particularly "his own": migration policies. And he did so by launching a full-frontal attack on the European Union: "It is time to put an end to the insane experiment of open borders. Your countries will end up in hell," he declared.
Statements perfectly consistent with those made just days earlier to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, to whom he suggested deploying the military to control migration flows. For that matter, Trump himself boasted of his own extreme strategies, centred on mass deportations.
On foreign policy, the American president called on European countries to "immediately stop purchasing Russian oil". And following a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Zelensky, he stated that the government in Kyiv should be able to return to its pre-war borders — meaning it should reclaim the territories currently held by Russia.
Finally, on the Middle East question, he attacked the decision by numerous governments to recognise the state of Palestine, effectively aligning himself with Israel's position that doing so amounts to a "reward" for Hamas.