UNITED NATIONS — Six years ago, President Donald Trump stood before the United Nations General Assembly and was met with a ripple of mocking laughter after declaring his administration had “accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.” This year, as he delivered a fiery, hour-long assault on global institutions, the silence was deafening. It was a powerful and somber testament to a world that has grown from amusement to an uncomfortable, sobered acceptance of his rhetoric.
The scene in 2018 was one of disbelief. Delegates and world leaders, many of whom saw his election as a passing aberration, tittered openly at the American President’s boast. Trump, seemingly taken aback, remarked, “I didn’t expect that reaction, but that’s okay,” a moment that was replayed endlessly as a symbol of his unconventional approach to diplomacy. He was the outsider, the showman, a curiosity on the global stage.
But on Tuesday, as he returned to the world’s most prominent diplomatic forum, the theatricality was gone, replaced by a grim resolve. His speech was a blistering repudiation of multilateralism and global cooperation. He called on nations to close their borders, warning that their countries were “going to hell” due to immigration and “green energy” policies. He dismissed the United Nations as a feckless institution that only offers “empty words” and “strongly worded letters” that “don’t solve war.”
The delegates listened, pens poised, faces largely expressionless. There was no mirth, no nervous chuckles. The laughter of 2018 was a luxury born of a belief that his presidency was an anomaly, a passing storm. The silence of 2025 is the sound of a world that knows better. They are no longer a disbelieving audience; they are an audience that has come to terms with an enduring reality.
The shift in reception reflects a deeper transformation in the international system. In his first term, world leaders held out hope that the United States would soon return to its more familiar internationalist role. Now, as Trump embarks on his second term, they recognize that his “America First” agenda is a foundational principle of his administration, and they must now engage with it as such. The laughter of 2018 was the sound of a world that didn’t know what to make of Trump. The silence of today is the sound of a world that has come to terms with it, for better or worse.