UNITED NATIONS — President Donald Trump assailed the United Nations and other countries in a grievance-laden speech that saw him accuse the world body of offering nothing but “empty words,” label climate change a “con job” and warn that open borders are destroying them.

Setting aside calls for unity, Trump began his speech to the U.N. General Assembly by venting his frustration that the U.N. hadn’t done more to support his diplomatic efforts. He faulted the organization over an escalator that broke down just as First Lady Melania Trump stepped onto it, said his teleprompter was also malfunctioning and ruminated on a two-decade-old grudge over his rejected bid to renovate the U.N. headquarters.

His closing message swept aside some of the U.N.’s most cherished files: climate change, which Trump repeatedly called a hoax, and uncontrolled migration, which he declared the top political issue of the era.

“Countries that cherish freedom are fading fast because of their policies on these two subjects. You need strong borders and traditional energy sources if you are going to be great again,” Trump said Tuesday, after warning bluntly: “Your countries are going to hell.”

Americans accustomed to the U.S. president’s discursive speeches would find much familiar in the address, which ran for nearly an hour. But foreign leaders not inured to Trump’s attacks witnessed a combative president who heaped himself with praise while repeatedly violating unwritten U.N. protocol of not criticizing other countries by name.

He faulted the U.K. and Germany over green-energy policies, and Greece and Switzerland for allowing in immigrants. He blasted Brazil for what he said was censorship and repression.

Trump cast his crackdown on migrants as a humanitarian effort because it kept people from enduring violence and death in the effort to enter the U.S. He touted a hat sold by his campaign that reads: “Trump was right about everything.”

“I don’t say that in a braggadocious way, but it’s true — I’ve been right about everything,” he said.

Trump called climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world” while criticizing renewable energy and praising coal.

“I have a little standing order in the White House — never use the word ‘coal,’ only use the words, ‘clean, beautiful coal,’” he said. “It sounds much better, doesn’t it?”

And while the speech reprised past themes and long-running gripes, Trump’s disdain for the U.N. reached a new level as he complained that the body is not helping his efforts to secure peace and grumbled about minor glitches.

“I ended seven wars, dealt with the leaders of each and every one of these countries, and never even received a phone call from the United Nations offering to help in finalizing the deal,” Trump said. “These are the two things I got from the United Nations — a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter, thank you very much.”

Trump’s far more aggressive approach has rankled other members of the U.N., not least because he has shown so little consideration to it. He’s withdrawn the U.S. from bodies such as UNESCO and the Human Rights Council, and just as he did in his first term, walked away from the World Health Organization.

The U.S. has all but stopped paying its bills to the United Nations since Trump took office in January and still has outstanding arrears from 2024, according to the organization. And he’s implemented a far more restrictive visa policy, barring Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas from attending this week’s General Assembly session and imposing new limits on Iranian diplomats.

He also pushed back on countries that have recognized a Palestinian state. “The rewards would be too great for Hamas’s terrorists for their atrocities,” he said.

But Trump also showed flashes of his trademark humor. He announced from the rostrum that he’d run into Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose country he criticized several times, and the two had agreed to meet.

“He seemed like a very nice man, actually. He liked me, I liked him,” Trump said. “At least for about 39 seconds we had excellent chemistry, it’s a good sign.”

The Brazilian government confirmed that Lula and Trump spoke, and agreed to meet next week.

Trump reserved his sharpest attacks for other countries’ immigration policies and for U.N. support for asylum seekers. Trump accused the U.N. of “funding an assault on western countries and their borders,” citing efforts to provide aid to migrants.

“The U.N. is supposed to stop invasions, not create them, and not finance them,” he said. And he cited longstanding complaints from Democrats and Republicans alike, who have often lamented — though rarely in such blunt terms — that the U.N. has become little more than a talking shop.

“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” Trump said. “At least for now, all they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter and then never follow that letter up. It’s empty words, and empty words don’t solve war. The only thing that solves war and wars is action.”

After his speech, Trump met with Secretary General Antonio Guterres, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Argentina President Javier Milei, who Trump endorsed through social media post and then handed Milei a printed copy of that. He demurred on what financial aid the U.S. may provide, though the White House signaled they may announce measures Tuesday.

“We’re going to help them. I don’t think they need a bailout,” Trump said.

Trump is also due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and pressured von der Leyen to accelerate E.U. efforts to wean itself from Russian energy sources.

“President Trump is absolutely right,” she said. “We’re on it.”

Throughout his speech, however, members of the audience sat mostly in silence though there were occasional moments of laughter and applause. And Trump’s remark about the teleprompter — which he said began working again about halfway through his speech — drew a response from U.N. General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock after he left the stage.

“Excellencies, as we are receiving queries, I would like to assure you that, don’t worry, the U.N. teleprompters are working perfectly,” she said.

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—With assistance from Magdalena Del Valle.

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