DONALD Trump’s address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday was part comical theatre, part chilling warning to the world that the old international order — which the US itself helped build — is dying.

The American president used the august international platform to recycle conspiracy theories and highlight far-right talking points, along with taking a verbal sledgehammer to the UN itself. He blasted mass migration, saying that the UN was creating problems and “funding an assault on Western countries” by supporting migrants. Mr Trump referred to climate change as the “greatest con job ever” and warned nations to stay away from “this green scam”. As for the UN’s peacemaking role, or lack of it, Mr Trump asked “what is the purpose of the United Nations”, adding that the forum only offered “empty words”. He was also critical of states recognising Palestinian statehood, terming it a “reward” for Hamas.

Refuting each of Mr Trump’s ill-considered assertions at the UNGA requires far more space than is available in these columns. Briefly, it should be shocking that the leader of the world’s foremost economic and military power should turn MAGA talking points critical of the ‘globalist elite’ into key arguments of his address.

However, little is shocking when it comes to Mr Trump. His climate denialism is dangerous, especially for countries like Pakistan, which are lurching from one climate crisis to another. It is also disturbing that he chooses to scapegoat migrants for destroying Western civilisation. He should remember that many Western countries, led by his own, have helped destroy states in the Middle East and Africa through regime change, which has fuelled the migration crisis.

His criticism of the UN for failing to prevent conflict may not be off the mark, but again, the global body is only the sum of its parts. When powerful member states, such as the US, paralyse the UN through the Security Council, is the global institution alone to be blamed for inaction? Moreover, it is the unilateralism of the Western bloc that contributed to the weakening of the UN.

Speaking later with leaders of Muslim states, including Pakistan, Mr Trump suggested that these countries could help end the Gaza war. However, the American leader’s emphasis seemed to be on getting the Israeli hostages back, not on ending the genocide of Palestinians.

While the Arab and Muslim states should be leading an economic and diplomatic boycott of Israel for its crimes in Gaza, arguably, only one state has the key to halting the Zionist aggression: the US. If America, as well as its Western allies, stopped funding Tel Aviv and shipping deadly weapons to it, and refrained from defending Israel at every international forum, the Zionist regime could be forced to rethink its bloody and criminal strategy.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2025