[ad_1]
THE UNITED NATIONS – President Trump has long argued that the United States had been taken advantage of by other nations – a "laughing stock for the whole world," he said on Twitter in 2014 – and his political momentum was based on the premise for change that.
But on Tuesday at the United States General Assembly, Mr. Trump was heard on the biggest stage in the world. In pronouncing a speech aimed at establishing the "sovereignty" of the United States over the whims and needs of other nations, the triumphant moment of the president was tainted at the first minute by laughter, at his expense.
The embarrassing exchange came when Trump boasted that his administration had been more than two years old than "almost any administration" in American history, causing audible blunders in the cavernous chamber room.
The president seemed surprised. "I did not expect that reaction," he said, "but it's okay."
The audience members laughed again, perhaps this time with sympathy.
Trump continued his speech, which lasted an additional 34 minutes, but the moment marked a sharp response from the international community to a president who is delighted to draw the attention of traditional US allies and partners on trade, security alliances and the general diplomatic bonhomie.
President Trump prepares to speak at the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly on September 25, 2018 in New York. (Photo by John Moore / Getty Images)
"He's always been obsessed with people who make fun of the president. From the mid-1980s, he said, "The world is making fun of us. They think we are fools, "said Thomas Wright, European analyst at the Brookings Institution. "That was never true, but he said it about every president. This is the first time I know people have made fun of a president. I think it'll make him crazy. He will play every insecurity that he has. "
For Trump, the moment was not that embarrassing. This too punctuated one of the main fabulist claims of a president who, according to the Washington Post's auditors, has made more than 5,000 false or misleading statements since taking office.
In the run-up to the mid-term elections, Trump began to brag about a long list of accomplishments for his administration, reciting them at one point during a recent gathering of two papers that he He pulled off his suit jacket.
In doing so, the president has generally been a great success and has placed himself favorably in the historical comparison with the country's greatest leaders. At a rally in Springfield, Missouri, last week, Trump was addressing fans with a florid teleprompter prose about the courage of the American founders when he walked away from the screenplay to say that his election in 2016 largest movement in the history of our country.
At the UN, Trump's claim of having done more in less than two years than most of the previous 44 administrations has challenged any limit of reality – or the hybris. The difference was that he was not talking to a room filled with excited "MAGA" supporters and wearing a red hat that encouraged him.
"On the one hand, you feel" Oh, God, how much the US President is laughing on the world stage, "said Julie Smith, Assistant National Security Advisor to Vice President Joe Biden.
"On the other hand, you feel good that Trump has finally escaped the bubble of political rallies that gives him continually the impression that everyone is in agreement with the false claims that they are not there. it does, "said Smith. where she spent a year as a fellow at the Bosch Academy. "A moment ago, I thought," It's good that the president is exposed to what the rest of the world sees. "
Although the laughter of the world's leaders at the United Nations was spontaneous, some delegates in the room may have felt an additional feeling. Television cameras surprised German diplomats with a laugh – perhaps a form of liberation after relations between Trump and Chancellor Angela Merkel started badly and continued to deteriorate.
Last year, the Germans attending a conference of the Economic Council of the Christian Democrat Union in Berlin laughed and applauded after the microphone of US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross was interrupted by video. Merkel then refuted some of his remarks in his own speech.
On social media, Trump's critics laughed at him on Tuesday.
"US presidents set the global agenda at the UNGA. Now, Trump is laughing, "tweeted Ben Rhodes, who, as President Barack Obama's assistant for national security, helped craft the UK's speeches.
"The world just laughed @realDonaldTrump" Actor Wanda Sykes tweeted. Referring to the variety show in Harlem in which the public drinks and heckles the bad artists on stage, she added, "Stay tuned, they could go play at Showtime at the Apollo".
In the afternoon, Trump cast an air of nonchalance, telling reporters that his speech in the speech "was supposed to make people laugh." But most do not buy it from a president who seldom makes fun of himself and whose default expression is merciless glare.
"It must hurt," said Wright, the analyst at the Brookings Institution. "It was on camera and it was spontaneous. It was on one of the biggest stages of the world.
[ad_2]Source link
