America is stronger, Trump says — but one priority stands out: the elections, 41 days away
From New York City, Un Headquarter.
The setting was unmistakably international: world leaders gathered in New York, with wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, energy insecurity, the future of the international order and the authority of international institutions competing for attention.
But Trump’s speech repeatedly returned to a different audience: America.
More specifically, the American voter — and, increasingly explicitly, the Republican electorate ahead of the November midterm elections.
Trump moved rapidly from Iran to oil, from Greenland to American sovereignty, from what he described as “peace” in Palestine to the International Criminal Court and Cuba, which he called a “failed country” as the Cuban delegation walked out of the assembly in protest.
The subjects appeared disparate. The organizing principle was not: American interests first.
The most revealing moment came when Trump himself brought the midterms into his discussion of Iran.
Midterm election at the heart of the speech
Trump said he expected a deal with Tehran after the election because, in his account, Iran was waiting to see how he would perform in the midterms. Then he added that he was not personally running, but that “the Republican Party is running” and that he would help it.
It was an almost defensive clarification. At the same time, he insisted that the election would have no influence on his decisions over Iran.
But the election was already in the speech.
And Iran was inseparable from another word that appeared throughout Trump’s argument: oil.
Trump told the General Assembly that the United States had escorted more than one billion barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz and argued that greater pressure on Iran would ultimately bring energy prices down. He called on other countries to participate in the economic isolation of Tehran.
The message was aimed beyond foreign governments. A war in the Middle East was being translated into an American economic question: security, energy and the price of oil. Greenland belonged to the same strategic geography.
Greenland and the American frontier
On the sidelines of the General Assembly, Trump signed a trilateral security agreement with Denmark and Greenland that expands U.S. military access and presence on the island while restricting the establishment of military installations by non-NATO countries without the agreement of the parties. The deal strengthens Washington’s position in the Arctic as competition with Russia and China intensifies.
Greenland, in other words, was not a side issue. It fit directly into Trump’s larger argument about American power, sovereignty and strategic control.
Then came the International Criminal Court
Trump described the ICC as an institution with no jurisdiction over the United States and called on its member states to withdraw, presenting the court as an anti-American tribunal.
That was another line drawn before the midterms.
Trump was reinforcing his alignment with Israel and speaking to his Zionist base, rejecting international legal pressure on Israel over war crimes and alleged genocide in Gaza while insisting that the ICC has no authority over the United States, that backed Israel’s actions.
The political message was clear: international institutions would not be allowed to constrain American power or Washington’s support for Israel.
At war with the press — and now Trump TV
Another sign of the political pressure surrounding the midterms is Trump’s escalating confrontation with the press.
He is not simply attacking individual journalists. His administration has pushed major news organizations out of the White House press operation. CNN, MS NOW and Politico were barred from the White House press pool, prompting legal action and a broader dispute over access to the president.
Then, at the United Nations on Tuesday, Trump confronted CNN’s Kaitlan Collins as she questioned him about the Iran war.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he told her. He also falsely suggested that CNN had said it would not cover him. The point is no longer simply that Trump attacks the press. He is removing the intermediary — the watchdog over government action, one of the fundamental pillars of a democratic society.
On September 21, the White House launched Trump TV: The Essentials Station, a 24-hour YouTube channel carrying Trump administration material directly to viewers.
And with the midterms 41 days away, the timing is impossible to ignore. The UN was the stage, but the midterms were the audience.