--- title: Photo of John Kelly During Trump's U.N. Speech Goes Viral description: "We feel your pain," said one commentator canonical: https://time.com/4949263/john-kelly-donald-trump-un-speech/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-20T04:46:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:47:24.885Z og:title: See John Kelly's Reaction to Trump's U.N. Speech og:description: "We feel your pain," said one commentator og:url: https://time.com/4949263/john-kelly-donald-trump-un-speech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54f10bd176ce3d40/6988de7f97cdff881a6b281c/ap_17262538364916.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: John Kelly, Melania Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See John Kelly's Reaction to Trump's U.N. Speech twitter:description: "We feel your pain," said one commentator twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54f10bd176ce3d40/6988de7f97cdff881a6b281c/ap_17262538364916.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See White House Chief of Staff John Kelly's Reaction to Trump's U.N. Speech by [Tierney McAfee / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Tierney McAfee / People Contributor Sep 20, 2017 4:46 AM UTC  White House Chief of Staff John Kelly during President Donald Trump's speech at the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters, Sept. 19, 2017. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly during President Donald Trump's speech at the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters, Sept. 19, 2017.Mary Altaffer—AP by [Tierney McAfee / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Tierney McAfee / People Contributor Sep 20, 2017 4:46 AM UTC A photo of [White House Chief of Staff John Kelly](http://time.com/4894987/why-general-john-kelly-trump-last-hope/) reacting to President Donald Trump‘s menacing United Nations address on Tuesday has gone viral. The photo, taken by Mary Altaffer of the Associated Press, shows Trump’s homeland security secretary turned chief of staff holding his face in his hand while listening to his boss, with First Lady Melania Trump seated in front of him. The photo quickly made the rounds on Twitter, where many shared Kelly’s apparent distress over [the president’s first speech at the U.N.](http://time.com/4947877/the-u-n-speech-showed-president-trumps-zero-sum-views/) in which he called North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a “[rocket man](http://time.com/4948559/donald-trump-rocket-man/) on a suicide mission” and threatened to “totally destroy” the East Asian country. “General #JohnKelly’s reaction to #TrumpUNSpeech speaks for us all,” tweeted one critic. “We feel your pain,” added another. > [](https://twitter.com/Anubis8/status/910232351770316800) > [](https://twitter.com/LifeIsSweetBaby/status/910231981782441984) > [](https://twitter.com/MissMyrtle2/status/910216057419268096) > [](https://twitter.com/JhamelResists/status/910214136868589568) > [](https://twitter.com/thefayster1957/status/910214587596894209) > [](https://twitter.com/Kyle%5FFeldscher/status/910200900341387264) > [](https://twitter.com/MadddWWWorld/status/910234765361590272) Trump is facing criticism over what some are calling his “warmongering” speech at the General Assembly, where he warned: “We will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. The United States is ready, willing and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary.” The president’s words were met with stunned silence from United Nations diplomats in the room, according to the official White House press pool report. “The applause for POTUS when he was introduced was muted at best and most in the room listened attentively but stone faced, many of them with earphones providing translation,” the report said. “At the end, there was fuller, polite applause, though not rousing or enthusiastic.” Critics on Twitter certainly made their voices heard, however. > [](https://twitter.com/atomicdog4/status/910238786470027264) > [](https://twitter.com/funder/status/910217811066281984) > [](https://twitter.com/21stcenturyfred/status/910155817135017985) > [](https://twitter.com/Lawrence/status/910171720195170304) > [](https://twitter.com/JZarif/status/910205888677470208) Wrote one Twitter user: “Trump’s ignorant hate speech belongs in medieval times-not the 21st Century UN -unworthy of a reply.” _This_ [_article_](http://people.com/politics/john-kelly-face-palming-trump-un-speech-photo/) _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://people.com)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4949263/john-kelly-donald-trump-un-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4949263/john-kelly-donald-trump-un-speech/"},"headline":"See White House Chief of Staff John Kelly's Reaction to Trump's U.N. Speech","datePublished":"2017-09-20T04:46:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:47:24.885Z","description":"\"We feel your pain,\" said one commentator","url":"https://time.com/4949263/john-kelly-donald-trump-un-speech/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","White House","Donald Trump","onetime","john kelly"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54f10bd176ce3d40/6988de7f97cdff881a6b281c/ap_17262538364916.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tierney McAfee / People"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54f10bd176ce3d40/6988de7f97cdff881a6b281c/ap_17262538364916.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John Kelly, Melania Trump","caption":"John Kelly, Melania Trump","creditText":"Mary Altaffer—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4949263/john-kelly-donald-trump-un-speech/","name":"See White House Chief of Staff John Kelly's Reaction to Trump's U.N. Speech"}}]}] ```