By Martha Grevatt
September 26, 2025
It’s said of Donald Trump that you can tell he’s lying if his lips are moving. In any case, there is no need to go through the lengthy and horrendous speech Trump gave to the United Nations on Sept. 23 point by point to debunk every lie.
It goes without saying that the speech was racist and xenophobic to the core. That was one of its central points, slandering migrants as murderers, rapists and “invaders.” Another major point was advancing the absurd notion that climate change is the “greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.” Somehow, Europe will be destroyed by these two factors: immigration from oppressed countries and green energy. (foreignpolicy.com, Sept. 23)
Among the more brazen lies was Trump’s claim that the U.S. economy is “booming,” despite statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing just the opposite, even after the president fired Bureau Commissioner Erika McEntarfer.
Then there’s the absurd claim that Trump single-handedly ended seven wars taking place in the world. Or that this enabler of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is somehow working for an end to the genocide in Gaza, which Trump blames on Hamas and the heroic Palestinian Resistance, not the Zionist state.
What’s important to note is that Trump is clearly not working for peace between Russia and Ukraine. He blasts China, Russia and European Union countries for buying gas and oil from Russia. “In the event that Russia is not ready to make a deal to end the war, then the United States is fully prepared to impose a very strong round of powerful tariffs,” Trump threatened, while insisting EU countries “have to immediately cease all energy purchases from Russia.”
This is the language of war.
Anyone who thought Trump would avoid escalating the conflict over Ukraine found out that was a false hope. It is a war policy of U.S. imperialism during a downward spiral — not the “golden age” Trump boasted of — no matter who’s in the White House.
As challenging as it is, working-class and oppressed people can push back against Trump’s fascist agenda. That’s the lesson of Chicago, where the progressive movement organized to oppose the sending of National Guard troops there — and Trump backed off!
