Leaders laugh at Trump’s boasts

DONALD Trump was forced to endure perhaps one of the most humiliating moments for a US president in front of the UN General Assembly, where those gathered audibly laughed at him.

And not in a good way. Delivering his once-a-year speech to the UN General Assembly, Mr Trump bragged that his administration “has accomplished more than any other administration in history”.

There was audible laughter and Mr Trump looked around the room and smiled broadly.

“Didn’t expect that reaction, but that’s OK,” he said.

Mr Trump has long claimed that his predecessors’ weak leadership prompted other nations “to laugh” at the US.

Some in the audience also grumbled during Mr Trump’s remarks when he said “we reject the ideology” of globalism and criticised nations such as Germany for agreeing to an oil pipeline with Russia.

When Mr Trump criticised socialism, a member of the Swedish delegation frowned with disapproval.

Mr Trump also boasted of US economic and military might and a rejection of “global governance”.

He said he had asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to take a “hard look” at US foreign assistance, saying that the US was the world’s largest donor of foreign aid “but few give anything to us”.

He said the review would examine what was working and what was not working and whether countries that received US aid had “our interests at heart”.

Mr Trump said: “We are only going to give foreign aid to those who respect us and, frankly, are our friends.”

He also talked up his administration’s relationship with North Korea and its progress towards denuclearisation.

(MY ADMINISTRATION) HAS ACCOMPLISHED MORE THAN ANY OTHER ADMINISTRATION IN HISTORY

“I would like to thank Chairman Kim (Jong-un) for his courage and for the steps that he’s taken – though more work remains to be done,” Mr Trump said, noting existing “sanctions will remain in place until denuclearisation occurs”.

He also declared that the “bloodthirsty killers known as ISIS have been driven out of the territory they once held in Iraq and Syria”, and called for a “political solution” in the latter country that reflected “the will of the Syrian people”.

And he delivered a message to Syrian President Bashar alAssad, saying the United States “will respond if chemical weapons are deployed by the Assad regime”.