Trump and his laughing audience

Donald Trump got a good laugh at the United Nations General Assembly but that was definitely not part of the script. A speech writer might often put a little note at the side in brackets after a paragraph containing something potentially funny: (pause for audience laughter). But the guffaws that erupted when Trump declared he had done more as a president in his first 18 months than any president in US history had clearly been written with a straight face. No laughter expected, so no bracketed advice. Trump didn't seem to mind, in fact it made him grin and he admitted he had not expected such a response. Either his skin is made of rhino hide or he just didn't get it. On the whole I think it was unfortunate that delegates burst out laughing but I guess they couldn't stop themselves. What is amazing is that the president's speechwriter included such a passage, or may he didn't and it was Trump who inserted it. Surely someone in the White House team must have feared that making such a claim would bring the wrong reaction from the UN delegates? But maybe they are all now so scared of the Apprentice King president that no one dares speak up. Sarah Huckabee Sanders MUST have considered this. She's the press secretary, she knows how reporters react when she makes outlandish claims on behalf of her boss. Laughing at the president of the United States of America might have some unpredictable consequences. Just look at John Bolton's speech in New York yesterday. The national security adviser threatened any European government with "terrible consequences" if they dared to continue trading with Iran after November 4 when the reimposed US sanctions against Iran come into force. Britain, France and Germany, co-signatories of the ill-famed 2015 Iran nuclear deal, along with some other members of the EU, have said they intend to carry on trading with Iran through a special conduit, ignoring US orders to honour the toughest-of-all economic sanctions against Tehran. Quite what the terrible consequences might be we don't know but if Bolton meant it and I assumed he did, then EU trade with the US is going to be hit hard. I have said before that I believe it is totally wrong for Europe to side with Iran against the US, and laughing at Trump during his major speech at the UN ain't going to help one jot.