#fabrications

Trump at the UN: Destroying America's legacy of goodwill.

September 24, 2025

Robert B. Hubbell

On Tuesday, Trump delivered one of the most offensive, counterproductive, dishonest, ignorant, and embarrassing speeches ever to sully the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations. In sinking to that nadir, Trump surpassed the shameful performances of Muammar Gaddafi, Nikita Khruschev, Fidel Castro, and Yasser Arafat.

Before addressing the substance of Trump’s stain on America’s relations with the world community, let’s answer the most important question first: Why does it matter, and how does Trump’s shameful performance fit into the ongoing efforts to defeat Trump, MAGA extremist ideology, and Republican officeholders at every level?

At root, Trump squandered the hard-earned legacy of goodwill and respect earned by millions of Americans who represented their country abroad by showing the best America has to offer. The emissaries of America who created that goodwill include soldiers and sailors defending global freedom, foreign service staff, foreign aid and healthcare workers, emergency relief responders, and volunteer educators, social workers, and scientists.

The goodwill that Trump squandered on Tuesday did not belong to him. It was a collective asset of the American people that made each of us safer in a dangerous world. Everything Trump touches dies. On Tuesday, he stood before the assembled leaders of the world and put his stubby hands all over America’s post-war international standing and killed it.

But Trump did more than squander a collective legacy born of sacrifice and selflessness. He created a new obstacle for all Americans who travel abroad or conduct business in other nations. Rather than enjoying the presumption of goodwill, we must overcome the fear that we are Trump supporters—and all that implies about the derision with which he and his supporters view the world.

The men and women who fought, died, and served America’s interests abroad for the last century should be outraged that their legacy is being squandered to massage the fragile yet monstrous ego of Donald Trump.

We can and will rebuild what Trump destroyed on Tuesday. But it will take decades.

The process of rebuilding that legacy begins with taking back Congress in 2026 and the presidency in 2028. The damage that Trump inflicted on Tuesday is at the core of who we are as Americans and who we aspire to become as a nation in the next century.

Trump’s speech to the UN General Assembly

Trump was given 15 minutes to address the UN General Assembly on Tuesday. He spoke for 57 excruciating minutes that felt like days. I will not explicate his speech. Others have done so. See Fred Kaplan in Slate, Trump U.N.: This might just be the most bonkers speech of his career | And that’s saying a lot.

If there is a passage that encapsulates the haughty arrogance and Dunning-Kruger cluelessness of Trump’s ignorance, it was this:

I’m really good at this stuff. Your countries are going to hell. … I’m really good at predicting things. I’ve been right about everything. . . . [America is]the hottest country anywhere in the world, and there is no other country even close.

As Nahal Toosi said of that passage,

It didn’t land well.

See Politico, Trump to the World: Do as I Say.

As explained by Toosi in Politico,

I’ve listened to every speech Trump has given to the U.N. General Assembly. This was the wildest one yet. . . . Trump rambled to an extraordinary degree, even after the broken teleprompter was fixed. He spouted an astonishing number of falsehoods — yes, even for him — such as suggesting that London was moving toward adopting Islamic law. He contradicted himself, claiming, for instance, that carbon footprints don’t matter while also bemoaning air pollution in some regions. [¶] Some foreign officials described Trump’s speech on Tuesday as uninformed at best and counterproductive at worst. “He tells things which are not true,” one European official complained to [the Politico author] by text.

Trump repeated his lunatic claim that he has “settled” seven wars in his second term. Every member of the UN General Assembly who heard that statement knew it was a lie before the words had reached the back rows of the Assembly Hall.

The lie is so grotesque that Trump cannot keep track of the alleged “wars” that he settled. For example, Trump claims that he settled a war between Cambodia and Armenia, countries that are separated by more than 4,000 miles and are not at war.

Trump also claims that he has settled the war between Albania and the non-existent country of Aberbaijan (a mispronunciation of Azerbaijan)—countries that are not at war. Trump was presumably referring to the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, one of the few conflicts he helped to settle (a process that the Biden administration contributed to significantly).

Trump’s accelerating confusion and ignorance of geography have led to the widespread dissemination of the following fictional map, which illustrates Trump’s muddled view of geography and the fictional wars he has settled:

[I copied the above chart from Mark Chadbourn ‪@chadbourn.bsky.social, who attributed the map to Rasmus Jarlov, Chair of Denmark’s Defence Committee. I do not know who actually created the graphic, but it was not me.]

Sadly, the fictional map is grounded in Trump’s confusion about world events and his role in shaping them.

If you want more details about Trump’s truly awful speech, PBS has compiled and organized video snippets by topic. See PBS, 7 key moments from Trump’s U.N. speech.

The Guardian also provided good coverage of the speech: Trump calls for nations to close borders and expel foreigners in UN speech: ‘Your countries are being ruined’.

I know from corresponding with readers that among the community of subscribers to this newsletter are retired foreign service officers, ambassadors, and senior military leaders who served in Europe. If you feel comfortable commenting on the speech, I invite you to post your comments. If you prefer to keep your comments anonymous, please email me at [email protected], and I will post them anonymously.

Trump changes policy on support for Ukraine

Amidst the carnage of Trump’s rambling comments to the UN General Assembly, Trump announced two significant policy shifts. First, he said that Ukraine was entitled to recover its sovereign territory seized by Russia. Trump had previously said that Ukraine should cede territory to Russia to end the war. See The Guardian, Trump says he believes Ukraine can regain all land lost to Russia since 2022 invasion

In addition, Trump said that NATO countries should “shoot down” Russian aircraft that invade NATO airspace. See ABC, Trump says NATO countries should shoot down Russian aircraft that violate their airspace.

Both changes in policy are significant. The question is whether they are permanent. Stay tuned.

Walz Congressional Website Bio: Walz completed his master's degree in educational leadership in 2001 and is nearly finished with his doctorate at St. Mary’s University in Winona, Minnesota. His approach to teaching has gained him recognition as the 2002 Minnesota Ethics in Education award winner, 2003 Mankato Teacher of the Year, and the 2003 Minnesota Teacher of Excellence as well as being named the Outstanding Young Nebraskan by the Nebraska Junior Chamber of Commerce for his service in the education, military, and small business communities.

Title: Misdeem WC: 950

“I don’t see it going anywhere.” —Richard Castle, Food to Die For (2 x 22)