During a Board of Peace meeting in D.C. on Thursday, President Donald Trump was attempting to address global cooperation. Instead, the speech quickly devolved into a series of personal asides, off-topic grievances, and rambling anecdotes that overshadowed whatever diplomatic message he intended to deliver.
While recognizing foreign leaders in attendance, Trump veered into commentary that had little to do with international relations. After complimenting Paraguay’s president as “young” and “handsome,” he added, unprompted: “I don’t like young handsome men. Women, I like. Men, no, I don’t have any interest.”
The remark had no discernible connection to policy, diplomacy, or the purpose of the event. It was an unnecessary aside that shifted attention away from the proceedings and toward Trump’s familiar pattern of injecting personal commentary into formal settings.
Trump Attacks Political Opponents, Makes Sleazy Comments About Melania
The speech then lurched into attacks on political opponents, including California Governor Gavin Newsom—whom Trump childishly likes to call “Newscum”— and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
“And when you see the representatives there like Gavin Newscum, he didn’t know what he was doing. They didn’t even know why, he didn’t know why he was there. Or AOC, she was unable to answer a simple question. And she could have said, ‘well, I’m studying it and I’ll report back to you next week.’ You know, you can get away with that, but she just went, ‘uhhh, uhh.’ Actually, I think it could be a career ending answer because for 25 years, anybody running against her, I think, Susie, is going to use that little piece of stuff, it was not good. It was not good. That was not a natural. So, I want to thank JD. I want to thank Secretary of State Marco Rubio.”
Whatever point Trump was trying to make with Newsom and AOC fell flat. The tangent was disjointed and incoherent, with the president seemingly giving up on his diatribe and going back to the topic at hand.
If the earlier portions were unfocused, the next part was outright bewildering. Trump recounted his appearance at the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly last year, bitterly complaining about a teleprompter malfunction, before pivoting abruptly to a story about an escalator that “stopped” suddenly. He described reaching out and placing his hand on “a certain part” of First Lady Melania Trump’s body to steady himself. The anecdote, told in graphic and unnecessary detail, raised eyebrows for both its tone and its relevance—or lack thereof—to a speech meant to highlight global cooperation.
At multiple points, Trump demonstrated his inability to stay on topic and deliver a speech befitting of the sitting president of the United States. Instead, he went on bizarre tangents, made sleazy comments about women that not even the first lady was spared from, and launched diatribes against political rivals—at a so-called “Board of Peace” meeting of all places.
What was billed as a substantive address about international collaboration instead became a showcase for grievance, self-congratulation, and meandering personal commentary.
