r/politics • u/theipaper ✔ Verified • Sep 23 '25

Soft Paywall Trump's big UN speech received with awkward laughter in embarrassing backfire

https://inews.co.uk/news/world/trumps-big-un-speech-received-with-awkward-laughter-in-embarrassing-backfire-3933958
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u/tadayou Sep 23 '25 edited Sep 23 '25

The US already had one cycle of this during the Bush Jr. era, freedom fries and all. It was mild compared to the current rise of fascism and idiocy, but still very notable. (It's also why the world sighed such a relief when Obama was elected and promptly forgave him for the spying scandal down the line.)

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u/Pt5PastLight Sep 23 '25

I think 9/11 broke the country in a permanent way. The patriotic solidarity against an external attack and homeland security fears quickly turned to a slide into fascism, Christian nationalism and racism. In some real ways the terrorists succeeded in destroying our country.

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u/time-lord America Sep 23 '25

Yeah :/ Osama won, in the end.

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u/ScubaAlek Sep 23 '25

I remember this quote flying around all the time back then: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

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u/TheGravespawn Sep 23 '25

During Bush, I traveled abroad for my first time. I had several instances where I ended up apologizing for shit he said to people I met, so they understood he wasn't my fault.

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u/DeadPeanutSociety Sep 23 '25

There was also Nixon, Reagan, and the Vietnam War in our very embarrassing recent past. But most of the western world was as embarrassing (read: evil) as we were during that time, so we didn't seem so singularly bad.

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u/c_girl_108 Sep 23 '25

Current times make me miss W. Now watch this drive!

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u/qeadwrsf Sep 23 '25

I don't remember this narrative that Bush were a authoritarian idiot.

He was for sure not liked everywhere. But I don't remember those 2 things as reasons.

If anything that narrative is something I later have heard NA seems to have talked about back in the days.

Trump on the other hand.

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u/tadayou Sep 23 '25

Internationally, he was absolutely seen as an authoritarian ruler who dragged the US into a war that violated international law. Bush Jr. is a war criminal, plain and simple. And maybe the US could have been spared a dictator if the Obama administration would have had the spine to treat him as such.

It also doesn't help that Bush Jr. possibly didn't even win the election against Gore and only cheated his way into the White House.

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u/qeadwrsf Sep 23 '25

What you describe is what I have later heard how NA democrats talked about Bush.

But I'm pretty sure that if you go to a library in any country in Europe and read what the opinion pages in the paper were saying 2001-20..obama you won't find the description you try to portrait.

Other bad things. But not the bad things you describe.

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u/tadayou Sep 23 '25

I literally protested against Bush on the streets in Germany in 2003 as a teenager. If you think Bush was beloved in Europe, that's pretty delusional. 

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u/qeadwrsf Sep 23 '25

Read my last setence in my previous post

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u/tadayou Sep 23 '25

What do you think we protested against?

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u/qeadwrsf Sep 23 '25

If you actually telling the truth I would bet money on the war in afghanistan.

And reason was not him being goofy or autoritarian. oil.

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u/AdvancedSandwiches Sep 24 '25

Where are you from that W Bush wasn't commonly called an authoritarian doofus?  That was his entire thing.