Trump’s trashing of the UN is tragic and hypocritical

“Better together.” That’s the optimistic theme that Ms Annalena Baerbock, the new president of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), chose for 2025’s global gathering, the 80th. US President Donald Trump instead confirmed in his speech what I keep hearing from the cognoscenti here at UNGA: The likelier trajectory points towards “worse apart”.

As is his wont, Mr Trump

heaped contempt on the UN

as on other countries and people he disdains. “The two things I got from the United Nations”, he sneered, are “a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter”. (Apparently, neither device worked to his satisfaction.) And while he, the peacemaker-in-chief, was allegedly out ending seven wars, “sadly, in all cases, the United Nations did not even try to help”.