SURPRISING LAUGHS
Laughter broke out Tuesday at the United Nations after President Donald Trump, while addressing global leaders, said, “In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.”
President Donald Trump poured scorn on the “ideology of globalism” and heaped praise on his own administration’s achievements Tuesday in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly that drew head shakes and even mocking laughter from his audience of fellow world leaders.
“The U.S. will not tell you how to live and work or worship,” Trump said as he unapologetically promoted his “America First” agenda. “We only ask that you honor our sovereignty in return.”
Speaking in triumphal terms, Trump approached his address to the world body as something of an annual report to the world on his country’s progress since his inauguration. He showcased strong economic numbers, declared that the U.S. military is “more powerful than it has ever been before” and crowed that in “less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.”
Just sentences into the president’s remarks, the audience began to chuckle and some leaders broke into outright laughter. Trump appeared briefly flustered, then smiled and said it was not the reaction he expected “but that’s all right.”
Later he brushed off the episode, telling reporters, “Oh, it was great. Well, that was meant to get some laughter, so it was great.”
The leaders’ spontaneous response to Trump’s address only reinforced the American president’s isolation among allies and foes alike, as his nationalistic policies have created rifts with erstwhile partners and cast doubt in some circles about the reliability of American commitments around the world.
Barely an hour before he spoke, in fact, U.N. SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres declared to the assembly that global cooperation is the world’s best hope and “multilateralism is under fire precisely when we need it most.”
Since taking office, Trump has removed the U.S. from the Paris climate accord, promoted protectionist tariffs and questioned the value of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and other alliances in furtherance of what he termed on Tuesday a strategy of “principled realism.”
To that end, Trump flaunted his embrace of negotiations with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un just a year after he had warned of raining down “total destruction” on a leader he branded “Little Rocket Man.” As Trump praised Kim’s “courage” on Tuesday, he unloaded harsh rhetoric on nuclearaspirant Iran as a persistent malign influence across the Middle East.
In addition to his keynote speech, Trump is to chair a meeting of the U.N. Security Council about nuclear proliferation on Wednesday, part of four days of choreographed foreign affairs.