The United Nations general assembly met in New York this week, affording Donald Trump his first opportunity to address the world body as president. He duly gave a bellicose speech in which he said that if provoked, the United States “will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea”.
Last weekend
The White House pushed back at a Wall Street Journal report that Trump was looking for ways to avoid exiting the Paris climate accords. “There has been no change in the United States’ position on the Paris agreement,” a spokesperson said. “As the president has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favorable to our country.”
Monday
In a bilateral appearance at the UN with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, Trump mentioned how impressed he had been with the military parade he saw in Paris earlier this year and said he would like one of those for himself.
“To a large extent, because of what I witnessed [in France], we may do something like that on 4 July in Washington down Pennsylvania Avenue, if I have your approval,” Trump told Macron. “I don’t know. We’re gonna have to try and top it, but we had a lot of planes going over and a lot of military might.”
It was also revealed in a CNN report citing unnamed sources that the former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort had been the target of a secret wiretap by the US government before and during the presidential election. Any revelations from the wiretap were not disclosed.
Tuesday
Trump appeared before the UN general assembly and made eyeballs pop with the line: “If [the US] is forced to defend ourselves or our allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.” Trump also suggested that he may yet seek to unravel the Iran nuclear deal, which he called “an embarrassment to the United States”.
The speech was met with stony silence and occasional outbursts of perhaps disbelief. The White House chief of staff, John Kelly, listened with face planted firmly in palm.
In reply to a major and deadly earthquake that struck Mexico City, Trump tweeted: “God bless the people of Mexico City. We are with you and will be there for you.”
A Manafort spokesman responded to news of the wiretapping with a statement implying that Manafort had been the victim of a political vendetta and demanding an investigation into what he called the “leak” of the wiretap information. “Mr Manafort requests that the Department of Justice release any intercepts involving him and any non-Americans so interested parties can come to the same conclusion as the DoJ – there is nothing there,” the statement concluded.
Wednesday
The US health secretary Tom Price’s travel itinerary last week included five charter jet flights that cost taxpayers an estimated $60,000, according to a Politico report. Price is a supposed budget hawk.
In action at the UN, Trump, sitting with the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, had this to say of prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace: “Who knows? Stranger things have happened. But I think we have a good chance.”
After the Senate announced that it would hold a vote next week on a plan to dismantle Barack Obama’s healthcare law, Trump chimed in, tweeting: “I hope Republican Senators will vote for Graham-Cassidy and fulfill their promise to Repeal & Replace ObamaCare. Money direct to States!”
Thursday
Trump remained at the UN general assembly in New York and continued to meet world leaders, including the presidents of Afghanistan, Ukraine, Japan, Turkey and South Korea. A day later, he posted this video:
#USAatUNGA🇺🇸#UNGA pic.twitter.com/miT2Lj7Q90
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2017
He also kept up his support for the latest GOP healthcare bill, tweeting: “I would not sign Graham-Cassidy if it did not include coverage of pre-existing conditions. It does! A great Bill. Repeal & Replace.”
Experts agreed: the bill would in fact have a negative effect on coverage of pre-existing conditions.
Friday
Trump extended his war of words with Kim Jong-un after the North Korean leader took a swipe at him in a state television broadcast. Kim called Trump a “mentally deranged US dotard” and said he would “pay dearly” for threatening to destroy his regime.
Trump fired back on Twitter: “Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn’t mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!”
North Korea threatened to test a nuclear bomb in the Pacific Ocean.
On Friday evening, Trump headed to Alabama for a rally on behalf of the Senate appointee Luther Strange in the Republican primary race to fill the seat vacated by Jeff Sessions when he became attorney general. “Will be in Alabama tonight,” Trump tweeted. “Luther Strange has gained mightily since my endorsement, but will be very close. He loves Alabama, and so do I!”
Strange’s opponent, hardline conservative judge Roy Moore, led most polls.
On healthcare, Trump had started the day by tweeting: “Rand Paul, or whoever votes against Hcare Bill, will forever (future political campaigns) be known as ‘the Republican who saved ObamaCare.’”
By late afternoon the bill appeared headed for yet another failure after the Arizona senator Jon McCain – who cast the decisive third no vote against its predecessor in July – announced that he would vote no. Trump did not immediately respond.