For almost an hour on Tuesday, Donald Trump stood at the podium of the UN general assembly, where presidents, kings and statesmen have delivered some of the most important and moving speeches in modern history. But Trump delivered a long and humiliating rant, filled with personal grievances and attacks on the UN, European leaders, migration policies and clean energy.
Trump set a low bar with his often rambling and incoherent campaign speeches, but it was still an embarrassing performance for the US president on the global stage. In his past appearances before the general assembly, Trump generally stuck to his prepared remarks and did not hector US allies sitting in the audience. But this was Trump unfiltered and unleashed – as he has been since the start of his second term, with no domestic or international restraint on his power and no need for even the mildest diplomatic niceties.
