An Ugly American berates the UN

An Ugly American berates the United Nations — and shames the rest of us
Trump's angry speech before the General Assembly was "coarse absurdist theater"

By Chauncey DeVega
Senior Writer
Published September 27, 2025 6:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) President Donald Trump is a master performer. He is a symbol and character more than a man, a type of performance artist.

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Like a professional wrestling promo crossed with insult comedy, Trump mocked the UN building (“a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter”), bragged (“I’m really good at this stuff. Your countries are going to hell”) and feigned toughness on Russia (a “paper tiger”). He said that America’s NATO allies need to do more to help Ukraine, defended fossil fuel energy and declared climate change to be “the greatest con job ever.” He castigated European countries for being too “nice” to immigrants and migrants because Europe’s (white) “heritage” is being poisoned by supposed hordes of strange (brown) “foreigners.”

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Trump’s surreal speech was “coarse absurdist theater,” communications scholar Marcel Danesi said. But, he warned, “it would be naïve to think that Trump does not know what he is doing. He does. As Orwell feared, the absurd does not manifest itself only by making language meaningless, but also by the cruelty of unrestrained power, and the ultimate failure of resistance against devastating political oppression.”

Unrestrained power is the president’s raison d’être. And his UN address was particularly unhinged, even for Trump. Instead of believing that conflicts can be resolved collectively, the key tenet of President Franklin Roosevelt’s vision for the UN, Trump is resolute that global problems can only be repaired by strongmen like him who, he claimed again, “ended seven wars.”

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Trump made it clear that his MAGA agenda isn’t just domestic — it’s global. Since he returned to office in January, his attempts to pull the U.S. away from its democratic allies and into the orbit of authoritarian countries has accelerated. .................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/09/27/an-ugly-american-berates-the-united-nations-and-shames-the-rest-of-us/