The U.N. General Assembly Just Laughed in Donald Trump's Face

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published 26 September 2018

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump (guhh) addressed the U.N. General Assembly in New York City. Usually, when the U.N. convenes, the most immediate impact Americans notice is that traffic in NYC sucks for a week. This year, we also received a short but startling reminder of how just how precipitously our country’s stature has fallen in just a handful of months. Bonus?

In his second-ever address to the Assembly, President Trump (blergh) opened by touting the work he's overseen since taking office, saying, “In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.” At that moment, some chattering can be heard from the representatives of the majority of nations on earth, quietly but growing louder.

“So true,” Trump quips, likely in an attempt to wrestle back control of the room, which again, is filled with diplomats from countries with whom we secure the safety of the Free World. At that, the chatter turns into flat-out guffaws from the assembled nations that we’ve historically considered allies, and Trump stands there looking flustered.

“Didn’t expect that reaction, but that’s okay,” says Donald Trump, Leader of the Free World (barf), and the assembled world leaders all laugh heartily and applaud. Here’s the video if you want to cringe for yourself:

Trump says, "my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country."Everyone starts to laugh..."So true," he says.They start to laugh harder and taken off guard Trump says, "I didn't expect that reaction but that's ok..." #UNGA pic.twitter.com/dF3kpDFounSeptember 25, 2018

The thing is, while I love to watch our 12-year-old boy president who only loves boobs and chicken nuggets make a fool of himself so succinctly on the world stage, I can’t even enjoy this clip because of what it means for America. These are the nations with whom we’ve worked since the end of World War II, and we’ve historically needed them to respect us as an ally, while allowing us to call on them should we need it. The fact that they’re laughing at our President for saying he’s worked for two years to accomplish things means they no longer respect him and, by default, it means they've lost respect for American institutions more broadly.

We all know Trump's statement is ridiculous. The truth is, his administration has accomplished very little, unless you consider upending any sense of normalcy in politics and American life an accomplishment. But the fact that the General Assembly's decorum was totally broken as a result of him just saying so means that Donald Trump isn’t just our Large Idiot President: He’s seen by the world as a laughing stock undeserving of respect.

That’s not great!

Of course, Fox News didn’t love that reality and so picked a more "on message" version of events, editing out the laughter and skipping right on through to the good stuff:

Propaganda feels so old school, but apparently fascism remains IN this season.

Elsewhere in the speech, President Trump (whyyyy) also thanked North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un for his “courage” and threatened Iran. Cool!

Let’s get this guy TF out of office now.

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Cady has been a writer and editor in Brooklyn for about 10 years. While her earlier career focused primarily on culture and music, her stories—both those she edited and those she wrote—over the last few years have tended to focus on environmentalism, reproductive rights, and feminist issues. She primarily contributes as a freelancer journalist on these subjects while pursuing her degrees. She held staff positions working in both print and online media, at Rolling Stone and Newsweek, and continued this work as a senior editor, first at Glamour until 2018, and then at Marie Claire magazine. She received her Master's in Environmental Conservation Education at New York University in 2021, and is now working toward her JF and Environmental Law Certificate at Elisabeth Haub School of Law in White Plains.