What did Donald Trump do today?
He embarrassed himself and the United States at the United Nations.
Trump was scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly for 15 minutes this morning. After being briefly flummoxed by a stopped escalator and what he claimed was a broken prompter, Trump launched into an hour-long ramble filled with lies, grievances, and conspiracy theories that had even Republicans calling it "gaslighting" and "beyond embarrassing."
He also tried to sell hats.
The debacle comes almost exactly seven years after a Trump speech was openly laughed at by the audience. An embarrassment at the time, that speech drew favorable comparisons to today's. Others saw parallels with Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi's infamous 2009 speech, which also featured an hour-long stream-of-consciousness rant filled with invective at the rest of the world's leaders and the promotion of political merchandise.
The full transcript of the speech is available here. It includes Trump's claim that the rest of the world is "going to hell," that London is going to impose Islamic law, his complaints that the United Nations didn't hire him to renovate their building, that there is a secret conspiracy to "kill all the cows," that climate change and renewable energy are a hoax, and, of course, that "everyone thinks [Trump] should get the Nobel Peace Prize."
Trump said one other thing of note: that he "was very proud to see this morning, I have the highest poll numbers I've ever had."
Why does this matter?
- It's bad for the United States when the rest of the world is laughing at the president.
- Presidents who are popular don't need to tell people they're popular.
- This is not how a person who is in full control of his mental faculties talks.