Trump Just Made the United States the Literal Laughingstock of the World. Again.

The United States of America was the laughingstock of the world Tuesday, and it had nothing to do with the president's Oval Office Smackdown with Chuck and Nancy. Yes, while the World's Most Powerful Man was ruining his made-for-TV special with repeated self-owns, there was actually another reason for countries still somewhat moored to reality to cackle in our national face. The Trump administration dispatched an adviser—the inevitably named Wells Griffith—to a United Nations conference in Poland focused on combatting the climate crisis, and he apparently had a mandate to use his appearance to extol the virtues of fossil fuels.

You know, the stuff that's causing the crisis, because we keep burning it. This did not go over well.

Poor Wells Fargo—sorry, Griffith. He really drew the short straw here, having to go out in front of people who've devoted themselves to battling an existential threat to human civilization and proudly announce the United States' intention to spit on their efforts. And make no mistake: the threat to civilization is real, as we detailed last week while tracing the background of Trump's ambassador to Canada.