Donald Trump was laughed at by a room full of the world’s leading dignitaries because he is “honest” and they “respect” him, the US ambassador to the UN has claimed.
Nikki Haley told Fox & Friends the President’s speech at yesterday at the United Nations General Assembly was actually a huge success and people were “falling over themselves to get a picture with him”.
Trump opened with his oft-repeated line that “in just two years my administration has accomplished more than almost any other administration in the history of our country”.
The claim prompted a ripple of murmurs and guffaws from the diplomats present and Trump was forced to pause and say: “Didn’t expect that reaction but that’s OK.”
The episode was met with widespread mockery.
Undeterred, Hayley said: “They loved how honest he is. It’s not diplomatic and they find it funny...ehen he goes and he is very truthful, they kind of were taken back by it.
“All day yesterday, they were falling over themselves to get a picture with him, to talk about how great his speech was...they love that he’s honest with them and they’ve never seen anything like it, so there’s 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 not what it looked like judging by Trump’s expression at the time...
But the President ploughed on regardless, using his speech to call for international trade reforms and insist that his main objective as president is to protect American sovereignty.
He called on OPEC to stop raising oil prices and criticised China’s trade practices.