The Trials and Tribs of Being a Narcissist: When the United Nations General Assembly Laughs in Your Face
The funniest and most cringeworthy moments of a narcissist’s life happen when they do not receive the high standard of praise and adoration to which they’ve become accustomed. So, when Donald Trump gave a speech last week at the United Nations in front of more than 100 of the most important world leaders of our time, there was nothing more priceless than watching him brag about himself, and then hearing the uproarious laughter of the room in response.
Here’s what happened:
- Trump: “In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.”
- *Laughter erupts across the entire room*
- Trump: *Is visibly embarrassed, his face turns slightly red, laughs a little* “Didn’t respect that reaction, but that’s okay.”
For a president who surrounds himself with men in the White House who constantly shower him with endless admiration, seeing Trump’s expression when the United Nations General Assembly paused and laughed showed us a crack in his narcissistic armor.
Did President Trump really just walk into the U.N. thinking the audience he was speaking to would react the same as his right-wing American supporters? Did he expect the United Nations General Assembly to clap for him like the old white men who populate his rallies clap for him and shout “build a wall” and “lock her up” into the void?
There’s such satisfaction in the irony of seeing someone so intoxicatingly in love with himself being completely invalidated by others. Especially when the “others” consist of almost every significant leader, ambassador and diplomat around the globe.
The U.N. had an appropriate reaction to Trump blatantly lying about his “accomplishments” so far in office. In no way has he accomplished anything good for the American people in his presidency. In fact, he’s done quite the opposite: tearing immigrant children away from their parents and putting them into camps, trying to repeal Obamacare—which would leave millions of citizens without healthcare—calling the extremely dangerous, sociopathic dictator of North Korea who is armed with many nuclear weapons a “rocket man” on Twitter, and cozying up to Vladimir Putin, who is a direct threat to our democracy.
If you count the number of inhumane and ignorant things Trump has done since he’s taken office, then yes, he has accomplished “more than almost any administration in the history of our country.”
Here are a few examples of the people who feed into Trump’s narcissism, whose blind admiration only caused the shock Trump experienced when realizing that not everyone will treat him like he’s god’s gift to America:
This video captures the moment Trump was informed of a possible traitor in the White House, as reported by an anonymous op-ed piece published by The New York Times. After referring to the newspaper as “the failing New York Times” and denying that there is a traitor in the White House (a.k.a. someone who doesn’t worship him), Trump goes on about his accomplishments as president thus far.
“We’re doing a great job. The poll numbers are through the roof, our poll numbers are great. And guess what? Nobody is going to come close to beating me in 2020 because of what we’ve done. We’ve done more than anybody ever thought possible in…it’s not even two years,” Trump said.
Does this sound familiar to what Trump said in his speech at the U.N.? Most definitely. The difference? The gaggle of white middle-aged cops standing behind Trump clapped voraciously for him. The U.N., on the other hand, laughed in his face.
Here we see Trump at a rally in West Virginia a couple of days ago. The crowds cheer him on with almost every statement he makes.
“The Democrats are a disgrace,” Trump said. The crowd cheers wildly.
“And the number one enabler of the Democrats is the fake news media right back there,” Trump said, pointing to the cameras. The crowd cheers wildly.
“You gotta vote Republican, I mean we have good people,” Trump said. The crowd cheers wildly. The pattern of “Trump talks and crowd cheers wildly” is evidently apparent here.
(Screenshot of video from the Washington Post)
At an immigration roundtable last May, Trump said many questionable things about immigrants that bordered on outright racism. One of the most striking statements, however, was when he defended his choice of words regarding gang members that supposedly come into our country illegally.
“I called [the gang members] animals the other day, and I was met with rebuke. They said ‘they’re people’. They’re not people. These are animals, and we have to be very, very tough,” Trump said. Before he could finish the last sentence, the audience at this roundtable was already clapping for him.
This transition must have been very difficult for Trump—going from being surrounded by narrow-minded people like himself who clap at every word he says, to having the leaders of the world call him out by laughing at his lies.
This would be a huge blow to any narcissist’s ego.
You almost want to feel bad for Trump—a guy so blinded by conceit he can’t handle it when people don’t love him.
But then you remember the shit-show he’s created in our country and how he pathologically lies about it, and suddenly it’s not that funny anymore. At the end of the day, no one’s laughing.