Rhetoric was classic Trump—direct, combative, and resonating with his base at home while rattling allies abroad but was it also true, read on.

US President Donald Trump’s address at the 2025 UN General Assembly was vintage, classic Trump—direct, combative, and calculated to energise supporters at home while unsettling allies abroad. His remarks, filled with exaggerations and misleading claims, reflected a deliberate political strategy more than an engagement with facts.

Dismissing climate change as a “con job” and portraying immigration as an existential threat, Trump leaned heavily on themes central to his political brand—sovereignty, cultural preservation, and economic protectionism. The rhetoric was aimed at presenting him as a truth-teller battling global elites and multilateral institutions, even when his claims were contradicted by evidence.

In his first UNGA address of his second term, Trump targeted India and China and castigated the UN where he was speaking. “China and India are funding the war in Ukraine. Some NATO nations are also doing this. Some European nations are purchasing oil from Russia and fighting it. It’s embarrassing,” he declared. Casting himself as a global peacemaker, he claimed credit for ending “seven unendable wars” in just seven months of his new term—including the India–Pakistan conflict.

Climate change, immigration

Then there were two signature issues: climate change and immigration. Trump dismissed climate science as “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” accusing the UN and other bodies of making failed predictions. He ridiculed renewable energy—calling wind and solar “a joke” and “pathetic”—arguing that green policies were crippling economies and boosting major polluters.

“Immigration and the high cost of so-called green renewable energy is destroying a large part of the free world,” he warned, linking climate action with demographic shifts.

 On immigration, Trump urged nations to seal their borders and expel foreigners, insisting that open-border policies would trigger cultural collapse. “Your countries are going to hell … your countries are being ruined,” he said, casting migration as a civilizational threat.

He accused the UN of “funding an assault on Western countries and their borders,” arguing the body enabled, rather than prevented, mass migration. Citing his own record, he boasted that under his leadership “the number of illegal aliens admitted … has been zero,” claiming those who entered unlawfully were jailed or deported immediately.

Fact Check

Trump’s claims at UNGA were largely misleading, say analysts

Climate change is real and human-driven, with evidence from the UN’s IPCC, NASA, and global meteorological agencies showing rising temperatures and extreme weather. Renewable energy like wind and solar reduces emissions and creates jobs.

European migration, while challenging, has also contributed economically and socially

His assertion of ending “seven unendable wars,” including India–Pakistan, is false, as no peace settlements occurred and India has time and again trashed his claims. Finally, the UN does not fund migration, it provides humanitarian aid and manages refugee protections under international law.

The bottom line—did he win any new friends with his speech, unlikely.