The 80th United Nations General Assembly
This week was an important one on the world stage as we saw the commencement of the general debate of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly. From September 23rd until September 29th, leaders and representatives from each of the 193 member-states of the United Nations congregated in New York City to debate the pressing issues that define global politics today.
One of the first speeches before the UNGA was that of President Trump’s, whose address to the body on Tuesday marks his first since returning to office earlier this year. President Trump, who spoke for 57 minutes, bashed the United Nations during his speech, claiming that they have not addressed the issue of illegal migration, and that all they have given him was a broken escalator and a broken teleprompter, the former referencing the fact that an escalator stopped while he was on it. He claimed he ended seven wars, even though some of those conflicts still continue to go on, told countries that they will “go to hell” if they accept more migrants, and called renewable energy and climate change “hoaxes.” Overall, Trump’s address was an attack on globalism and encouraged countries to put themselves first and isolate in a similar way that the United States has been doing under Trump.
Briefly mentioned during Trump’s address were the American responses to the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza. In a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, following the speech, and in statements made after the fact, President Trump seemingly reversed his position on the whole conflict, stating that Ukraine has a chance to take back all its territory, including Crimea, which had been seized by Russia in 2014. Trump also declared that NATO member states are free to shoot down any unauthorized aircraft that flies into their airspace. This is quite significant in that the president had previously said that Ukraine would have to compromise in a possible Russian peace deal, and that he was previously quite sympathetic towards Russia. This is a big win for Zelensky and a loss for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was probably hoping Trump would force Ukraine to compromise to end the war.
In regard to Gaza, in the lead-up to the UNGA, several Western countries that had previously held off on not recognizing Palestine did so, including the United Kingdom, France, Canada, and Australia. This is yet another sign of the continuing backlash against Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have criticized the recognitions, stating that they were a gift to Hamas. It seems, however, as though there will only be momentum towards Palestinian statehood, even if Trump and Netanyahu are so against it.
Another notable event that occurred during the UNGA was the U.S. State Department’s cancellation of the diplomatic visa of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who spoke at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York and called on American soldiers to disobey President Trump’s orders. Petro has criticized the visa cancellation, accusing President Trump of violating international law and calling for the U.N. headquarters to be moved to a neutral country location.
The United States
Several noteworthy domestic political events happened this past week. On Monday, prior to the UNGA, President Trump, flanked by his health advisers, announced in a press conference that Tylenol (also known as paracetamol in most of the world) is to blame for increased autism rates. This is despite the fact that there is no evidence whatsoever that correlates Tylenol usage by pregnant women with an increased occurrence of autism. Many of the world’s health agencies, including the World Health Organization, have disputed the president’s claim. This ridiculous claim is probably influenced by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who has long tried to find a cause of autism, mostly by blaming vaccines and certain drugs for its occurrence.
Some good news on freedom of speech occurred when Jimmy Kimmel Live! went back on air following its brief pre-emption for nearly a week by ABC due to remarks the host made that some viewed as problematic. Trump has been angered by this, stating that he would sue ABC. Nexstar and Sinclair, the networks whose pre-emption of Kimmel led to this whole mess in the first place, have also since returned the show to air.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration continues to seek retribution against its opponents, with former FBI director James Comey being indicted this past week based on what seems to be flimsy evidence about him lying to Congress about not having “authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports.” This particular incident occurred in the height of the investigation into whether or not the 2016 Trump campaign had colluded with Russia, during which Comey was fired by Trump. The president has feuded with Comey in recent years and has been eager to put him in prison for some time. This is a continuation of the Trump administration’s eagerness to retaliate against those who had feuded with Trump in recent years.
Finally, some news about elections this November and in 2026. In New York City, incumbent mayor Eric Adams dropped out of the mayoral race, leaving Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani, independent Andrew Cuomo, and Republican Curtis Sliwa to fight for the top job in NYC. Adams cited the lack of sufficient fundraising as his reason for dropping out, and did not endorse any candidate. Previously, Adams had denied wanting to drop out due to the Trump administration’s offer to give him a job in order to unify opposition to Zohran Mamdani.
Across the river in New Jersey, a scandal occurred in the middle of a heated campaign for governor as it was reported that the National Archives had given too much personal information about Democratic candidate Mikie Sherrill to people associated with the campaign of Republican candidate Jack Ciatarelli. This will only intensify the status of the race, with both candidates having already made quite incendiary remarks against each other repeatedly during the campaign and accusing the other of lying. It is quite a nasty election, and it is set to be a close one too, with recent polls suggesting that Ciatarelli is catching up to Sherrill in this safe blue state. Probably the reason for Ciatarelli’s momentum is that the current Governor Phil Murphy is unpopular, and Sherrill being in the same party as Murphy could be hurting her. Our rating for the NJ governor race remains at Lean D, due to the national Republican Party’s unpopularity dragging Ciatarelli down in this safe blue state/
In the state of Arizona, Democrat Adelita Grijalva won a special election to fill the seat of her late father, Raul Grijalva, in the state’s 7th congressional district. This narrows the Republican advantage in the House even more. Grijalva’s election means that she will likely be the 218th signature to sign onto a discharge petition that would pull an effort to release files relating to serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein out of committee and have it pass the House of Representatives
Lastly, in the state of Missouri, the governor signed into law a new congressional map that would elect one extra Republican from the 5th district, which was redrawn to become much more Republican-leaning. The current 5th district is represented by a Democratic congressman by the name of Emanuel Cleaver, and encompasses much of the city of Kansas City. Whether this map is legal or not will be up to the courts to decide, but for now we are changing our rating of this district from Safe D to Likely R (flip).
Emil Ordonez, a rising college freshman, is the founder and editor-in-chief of Polinsights. He has been deeply passionate about politics and history since learning every U.S. President at the age of five. He was compelled to start this blog after meeting many people who were misinformed or had become apathetic about how society worked. He hopes to provide factual knowledge and insights that will encourage people, especially the young, to get more engaged in their respective communities. In his free time, he edits for Wikipedia and makes maps for elections. He aspires to work in Congress or even the White House in the future.
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