How To Get An Entire Country To Fall In Love With You In Six Minutes And Forty One Seconds
"I do find it slightly offensive that everyone thinks that every New Zealander starred in either Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit."
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern may be well loved in her country, and even in Australia. But those in the United States hardly know the progressive leader. She’s over there right now for a United Nations catch up and took the time to sit down with late show host Stephen Colbert.
What followed was a masterclass: Ardern showed off exactly how an unknown politician can introduce themselves to a new country and come off looking empathetic, classy and hilarious.
And Colbert didn’t make it easy. His first question was about recent viral reports that world leaders on the UN General Assembly floor laughed at US president Donald Trump when he gave his address.
“Are you trying to create a diplomatic incident here right now?” Ardern responded to laughter. She then chose her words very carefully, not wanting to piss off Trump.
There was a little laugh and he said ‘I didn’t expect that response’, and then there was a bigger laugh. then people laughed with him,” she continued.
When talking about whether New Zealand would be granted exemptions to Trump’s latest round of steel tariffs (something that Australia was able to get), Ardern recounted an awkward encounter with the leader.
“I had a very brief encounter with the president at a reception. I did raise [tariffs] with him,” she told Colbert. “But my partner knocked over a flagpole.”
Ardern’s partner, Clarke Gayford, quickly scrambled to fix the situation and narrowly avoided being leapt on by Trump’s bodyguards, according to the New Zealand PM.
The hits kept coming.
“I do find it slightly offensive that everyone thinks that every New Zealander starred in either Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit,” Ardern said, before revealing that even she had unsuccessfully auditioned in one of the famous films.
Ardern invited Colbert, an avid Lord of the Rings fan, to come to New Zealand to attend an honourary hobbit citizenship ceremony.
She ended by talking about buying maternity bras and running into voters while grocery shopping — something that shocked Colbert and the audience.
“I don’t think I can imagine Trump doing that,” Colbert said of buying maternity bras.
So, attention to any budding world (Scott) leaders (Morrison): this is how you present yourself to the world.