Why do you think they call it diplomacy?

 The Fair 'n' Balanced Network still haz a severe case of the sads about that -- oh, can we go ahead and call it "disastrous"? -- debate this month, so it dispatched a reporter "with a focus on national and global news" to the UN to make things better. Here's your Sunday morning top story:

UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. — Foreign ministers from European nations with close U.S. ties reacted to Vice President Kamala Harris’ claim world leaders are "laughing" at former President Trump, dismissing the claim.

During September’s presidential debate, Harris said, "World leaders are laughing at Donald Trump. I have talked with military leaders, some of whom worked with you, and they say you're a disgrace."

When asked about this quote, foreign ministers in attendance at the United Nations High-Level Week stressed they have no view one way or the other on the U.S. election and will work with whomever* wins.

Uh, Fox? If you're too young to remember the War on Drugs and its advertising campaign -- why do you think they call it dope diplomacy?

"We are friends of America," Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said, noting Italy and the U.S. are "two sides of the same coin." "If Trump will be the new president of America, we will work with him as we worked with him when he was president of America."

"We worked well with Biden, with Bush, with Reagan, with Clinton, with Obama," Tajani added. "For us, the transatlantic relations are the key strategy of our foreign policy, Europe and America."

If you've been waiting all your life to holler "STOP THE PRESS!!!" -- keep waiting.

Foreign ministers of Lithuania and the Czech Republic stressed that they will not interfere in the election by stating a preference, instead saying they "leave it to the American citizens to decide."

Gotta love that former Second World close harmony. Could we have some hitting back or dismissal, please?

"My role is not to comment on such a political statement," Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said. 

However, Lipavsky praised Trump’s "strong" message of defense spending, which he hoped Europe would continue to embrace in the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

"The point is that Donald Trump had, at his time, one strong message for Europe, and that message was quite resonating and is resonating more now because he was saying spend more on your defense," Lipavsky said. 

"My government is spending more on our defense," he added. "We want to reach those 2% of GDP, will be reaching them this year, and we will continue next year. So, (if) Donald Trump would be a president with this message, ‘Please spend 2%," we would be OK."

Which is genuinely diplomatic, given that Trump's message earlier this year was -- can we quote Fox again? 

"NATO was busted until I came along," Trump said. "I said, ‘Everybody’s gonna pay.' They said, ‘Well, if we don’t pay, are you still going to protect us?' I said, 'Absolutely not.' They couldn't believe the answer."

Today's story, at least, seems to have gotten over the idea that the allies are dragging their feet at paying into some sort of NATO budget:

... Prior to the Trump administration, only a few members of NATO had upheld their commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defense, but that number rose sharply due to Trump’s insistence and hard-line stance over the issue. 

... though it still has, let's say, some causality issues (the bulk of the countries now at the 2% target having come aboard since Generalissimo Trump left office). But let's get back to the present, because we're about to get some actual dismissing:

No European nation, though, has touted the success of Trump’s first term and expressed hopes for a strong second term as has Hungary. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó revealed his government would have "huge expectations" for a new Trump administration. 

"We have huge expectations because we do believe that many of the major crises which give us a lot of concern can be resolved by an administration of President Trump," Szijjártó said, noting he speaks as the longest-serving foreign minister in NATO with 10 years under his belt. 

"I didn't really see anyone laughing at Trump," Szijjártó said. "What I've seen many having fear. I've seen many being afraid of a U.S. president being honest, not a hostage by the liberal mainstream, representing a patriotic position, speaking clearly about America first."

No doubt it was a relief for the Fox reporter to find someone else who -- what's that the kids are saying these days? -- understands the assignment.

* Ahem. "Whoever"