US president’s speech made a mockery of UN values and highlights the need for strong anti-Trumpian alliances

Such is the gravitational pull cast by Donald Trump and the US economy that the politics of the other 192 countries that make up the United Nations are rapidly being reduced to one long discussion about how to relate to, and challenge this ever darker and weirder presidency.

Before Trump’s extraordinary 58 minute speech on the supposed threats posed by open borders, sharia law, the UN’s failings and the “climate hoax”, the supporters of the UN’s values already knew they faced a challenge. Now they realise the degree to which the world’s superpower seems bent on the destruction of everything they believe.