Timothy L. O'Brien, Columnist

Trump’s Assaults Aren’t Really Funny At All

The president is riding roughshod over the independence of U.S. institutions, including the Supreme Court, the Fed and the DOJ.

September 28, 2018 at 11:30 AM UTC

By Timothy L. O'Brien

Timothy L. O'Brien is senior executive editor of Bloomberg Opinion. A former editor and reporter for the New York Times, he is author of “TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald.”

Trump's assaults on American institutions aren't really funny at all.
Photographer: John Moore/Getty Images North America

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When President Donald Trump gave his first press conference in 19 months on Wednesday, he was asked about the laughter that greeted him at the United Nations this week after he claimed that “in the history of our country” his administration had proven to be unusually successful.

“They weren’t laughing at me. They were laughing with me. We had fun. That was not laughing at me,” Trump replied. “So the fake news said people laughed at President Trump. They didn’t laugh at me. People had a good time with me. We were doing it together. We had a good time.”