Laughter broke out at the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday while President Trump was beating the drum of America’s successes domestically and internationally under his administration during his opening remarks; Nikki Haley says that laughter was not mockery but respect for Trump’s bluntness.
Trump needled his predecessors in his speech, saying, “Today, I stand before the United Nations general assembly to share the extraordinary progress we’ve made. In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country, America — so true.” The room of diplomats and world leaders then broke into laughter.
“Didn’t expect that reaction, but that’s OK,” Trump said, smiling.
Many in media ran with the angle that the world leaders were laughing at Trump, but American Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley told Fox News that that angle was fake news.
“The media has got this so wrong. I deal with these leaders every single day,” Haley said. “I know exactly how they think. Do they love America? No. Do they respect America? Now they do.”
Haley said that the laughter was due to Trump’s non-diplomatic style: “When they said that they love how honest he is. And it’s not diplomatic. And they find it funny. I mean, when he goes, and he is very truthful, they kind of were taken back by it.”
Haley then told a very different story about how the “laughing” world leaders behaved toward Trump behind the cameras.
All day yesterday — they were falling over themselves to get a picture with him, to talk about how great his speech was. How strong it was. Whether he said good things about them or not, they love that he is honest with them. And they have never seen anything like it. So there is a respect there. I saw that the media was trying to make it something disrespectful. That’s not what it was. They love to be with him. That’s the only time you will see that entire chamber standing room only.”
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