--- description: President Donald Trump claims the U.N. audience was laughing with him. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern offers her take. title: Laughing With Him or at Him? New Zealand's Leader Tactfully Addresses President Trump's Viral U.N. Moment image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Laughing With Him or at Him? New Zealand's Leader Tactfully Addresses President Trump's Viral U.N. Moment by [Precious Adesina](/author/precious-adesina/) ## Precious Adesina Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 27, 2018 3:27 PM CUT by [Precious Adesina](/author/precious-adesina/) ## Precious Adesina Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 27, 2018 3:27 PM CUT [New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern](http://time.com/5405405/new-zealand-jacinda-ardern-baby-u-n/ "undefined") was in the room Tuesday when President Donald Trump delivered a speech to the [U.N. General Assembly](http://time.com/5405800/donald-trump-united-nations-speech-laughter/ "undefined") that prompted unexpected giggles from the audience — but don’t expect her to fully reveal the reason for the laughs. Stephen Colbert attempted to get her to weigh in on the viral moment while she appeared on _The Late Show_ Wednesday evening, but Ardern demurred, playfully asking Colbert if he was trying to create a “diplomatic incident.” She later addressed his question — but only a little. “There was a little laughter and then he said, ‘I didn’t expect that response’ and then there was a bigger laugh,” Ardern said. “Then people laughed with him.” The reaction from the U.N. audience came after the president insisted that “in less than two years, my administration has accomplished almost more than any other administration in the history of our country.” After his speech, Trump claimed that the wave of laughter after his comments was intentional. While discussing the viral moment between events at the annual meeting of world leaders in New York this week, the president explained the speech was supposed to be received in a cheerful manner and was taken out of context, calling the media’s coverage “fake news.” Trump later told reporters during a press conference Wednesday afternoon that attendees “weren’t laughing at me, they were laughing with me.” New Zealand PM on Laughter During Trump's U.N. Speech ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5408148/new-zealand-pm-laughter-trump-un-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5408148/new-zealand-pm-laughter-trump-un-speech/"},"headline":"Laughing With Him or at Him? New Zealand's Leader Tactfully Addresses President Trump's Viral U.N. Moment","datePublished":"2018-09-27T15:27:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:33:52.704Z","description":"Trump says they were laughing with him. Jacinda Ardern offers her take","url":"https://time.com/5408148/new-zealand-pm-laughter-trump-un-speech/","keywords":["United Nations","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Precious Adesina","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/precious-adesina/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"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":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5408148/new-zealand-pm-laughter-trump-un-speech/","name":"Laughing With Him or at Him? New Zealand's Leader Tactfully Addresses President Trump's Viral U.N. Moment"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Donald Trump Addresses the U.N. General Assembly in New York City","description":"President Donald Trump Addresses the U.N. General Assembly in New York City","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/JJSP69E2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-09-25T15:30:33.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/JJSP69E2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5408148/new-zealand-pm-laughter-trump-un-speech/","duration":"PT2M51S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5408148/new-zealand-pm-laughter-trump-un-speech/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```