Diplomats filing into the UN General Assembly hall Tuesday have no idea which version of Trump they're about to get, according to a report from The Guardian.
President Donald Trump has spent the days before his address flooding Truth Social with a "bizarre' mix of grievances and boasts, leaving attendees on edge, the Guardian's Robert Tait wrote. Topics have ranged from his planned triumphal arch in Washington — which he announced in an early Sunday post would "double as a military complex" stocked with snipers and drones, claiming without evidence the Pentagon requested it — to a bid to rebrand artificial intelligence entirely. On Friday, he posted a list of his "Top 25 Trump Achievements" since returning to office.
"His previous addresses to the assembly suggest that the chances of a non-divisive and uplifting message are low,' Tait reported, adding, "Last year, Trump shocked the august gathering in his first appearance since returning to the White House the previous January by declaring to those present that their countries were 'going to hell' while launching a full-frontal assault on the UN and the concept of open borders."
This will be Trump's first UN appearance since he launched a war against Iran alongside Israel in February, one he predicted would last days and topple Tehran's regime. Seven months later, "the regime still stands," Iran has choked off the Strait of Hormuz — disrupting a fifth of global oil exports — and gas prices and inflation have climbed at home. Polling shows just 36% of Americans think the U.S. is winning, and only 29% approve of Trump's foreign policy overall.
Trump arrives at the podium, in other words, trailing "abysmal" numbers and an unpopular war with no end in sight, the Guardian is reporting, noting that's hardly the backdrop for the triumphant remarks he's signaled are coming.