by Jim Barton
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| Top left: Russian President Nikita Khrushchev banging his shoe on the table, October 12, 1960. Top right: the UN symbol. Bottom: President Donald Trump, September 23, 2025 giving a speech at the U.N. |
Many Brownsvillians won't believe it, but this blogmeister is always reluctant to do Trump stories, not because they're not news or editorial worthy, but because they carry no influence as 52% of Cameron County supports him anyway and 48% already knows exactly who and what he is.
It reminds me of a phrase from the 50's:
"Don't confuse me with facts. My mind is made up."
So, as I'm playing back the YouTube video of Trump's UN speech, that becomes unnecessary as I've found a transcript of the President's assigned 15 minutes that he turns into 57, his initial words complaining about a non-functioning teleprompter:
"Thank you very much, very much appreciated. And I don't mind making the speech without a teleprompter, because the teleprompter is not working. I feel very happy to be up here with you nevertheless, and that way you speak more from the heart. I can only say that whoever's operating this teleprompter is in big trouble."
The President starts out with boasting about the peace he's brought to our country:
Six years have passed since I last stood in this grand hall and addressed a world that was prosperous and at peace in my first term. Since that day, the guns of war have shattered the peace I forged on two continents. An era of calm and stability gave way to one of the great crises of our time. And here the United States, four years of weakness, lawlessness, and radicalism under the last administration delivered our nation into a repeated set of disasters. One year ago, our country was in deep trouble, but today, just eight months into my administration, we are the hottest country anywhere in the world and there is no other country even close. America is blessed with the strongest economy, the strongest borders, the strongest military, the strongest friendships, and the strongest spirit of any nation on the face of the earth.
Now, Trump focuses on the economic prosperity of the United States achieved with his guidance:
This is indeed, the golden age of America. We are rapidly reversing the economic calamity we inherited from the previous administration, including ruinous price increases and record-setting inflation, inflation like we've never had before. Under my leadership, energy costs are down, gasoline prices are down, grocery prices are down, mortgage rates are down, and inflation has been defeated. . . Manufacturing is booming. The stock market, as I said, is doing better than it's ever done. And all of you in this room benefit by that, almost everybody.
Next, President Trump seems to be asking that he be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize:
Likewise, in a period of just seven months, I have ended seven unendable wars. They said they were unendable. You're never going to get them solved. I ended seven wars. . . . No president or prime minister. And for that matter, no other country has ever done anything close to that, and I did it in just seven months. It's never happened before. There's never been anything like that. Very honored to have done it. It's too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them. And sadly, in all cases, the United Nations did not even try to help in any of them. I ended seven wars, dealt with the leaders of each and every one of these countries, and never even received a phone call from the United Nations offering to help in finalizing the deal. All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that on the way up stopped right in the middle. If the First Lady wasn't in great shape, she would've fallen. But she's in great shape.
More complaints:
We're both in good shape, we both stood. And then a teleprompter that didn't work. These are the two things I got from the United Nations, a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter. Thank you very much. And by the way, it's working now. It just went on. Thank you. I think I should just do it the other way. It's easier. Thank you very much. I didn't think of it at the time because I was too busy working to save millions of lives, that is the saving and stopping of these wars, but later I realized that the United Nations wasn't there for us. They weren't there. I thought of it really after the fact, not during. Not during these negotiations, which were not easy. That being the case, what is the purpose of the United Nations?
The speech drones on and on in the same self-serving fashion, a classic case study in narcissism. Not since Russian President Nikita Khrushchev took off his shoe and banged the table with it has a world leader been such an embarrassment to his country.
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Your shoe pic has been proven a fake over and over again. There are many versions of the story. The oddity of this story is that in 1960, there is no video of the event or even a snapshot of the event. So, your post is based on a claim which over and over again, in terms of the picture, has been proven as fake. Nikita did admit to the event, but nothing such as you recount.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, there are conflicting accounts, but William Taubman, author of "Khrushchev: The Man and His Era" writes that after banging a table with both his fists, the Soviet leader took off his right shoe — a loafer or sandal, according to Khrushchev's son, because he hated tying laces — waved it and then "banged it on the table, louder and louder, until everyone in the hall was watching and buzzing." The New York Times also reported the incident as did Khrushchev's interpreter, Viktor Sukhodrev. I have memories of seeing the incident on the news in '60 despite reports of no video footage now.
DeleteMy mentor who is 97 years old and fought as a Polish partisan after his mother was taken to the camps for helping Jewish friends told the story as follows. He claims that Nikita was mad that the Soviet Union was called a communist nation. This was a big issue with the Soviets. Nikita got mad and banged his shoe on the table claiming they are not a communist nation. My mentor speaks and understands Russian. The issue was and remains, the west mischaracterized the meaning of the Communist Party being in charge of the Soviet Union. The reference was nothing more than the Soviet Union was being guided under the theory of the dialectic as understood under the model of the path to Communism. The theory is well settled there is no State once you reach the point of communism. The entire point is the State withers away. Hence no government can be communist since there is no government at that point. Nikita and others constantly lectured they were moving the country towards socialism, but in fact had not reached that point. This is why he was angry. He hated the lie they were a communist nation, since there is no government under the final communist model. He said there was no difference between the US being guided under the capitalist model, except there is no designation of same for the US. The Soviets were being guided under the Communist model. The big story right now is the $755 million the Trump administration is paying Russia for uranium. Ukraine is screwed so long as we depend on Russia for uranium.
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean that with time, Trump's presentation will be known as a revolutionary speech of a visionary man? This is a millionaire talking to poor countries. Rich people are frank, direct, and do not think about others.
ReplyDelete