Donald Trump hosted five African heads of state, and his questions were as absurd as you could possibly imagine, but when he asked Liberian President Joseph Boakai why his English was so good — that took the cake.
Donald Trump’s presidency has turned televised White House meals and meetings into their own kind of reality television. He’s going to yell at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy like it’s Real Housewives, check Cyril Ramaphosa like it’s an episode of Love & Hip Hop, and have racial slip-ups like evicted contestants from Love Island. Trump claims he’s a master negotiator with his tariffs, but deep down, when analyzed, he’s just the same vindictive reality TV star he’s always been.
Liberia is a country on the far west coast of Africa. In the early 19th century, Americans escaping slavery, along with Afro-Caribbeans, moved back to Africa, believing they stood a better chance at liberty and freedom there than in pre–Civil War America. English is the country’s official language. Liberia has faced multiple controversies and wars that dominated international news, some even involving Naomi Campbell. An on-and-off friend of the Trump family, he should have just asked her what she learned from Charles Taylor.
Yet Trump — who has hosted leaders from Germany, Ukraine, and Poland, none of which have English as their official language — asked a question he had never asked before. Trump said, “Such good English, where did you learn to speak so beautifully? I have people at this table who can’t speak nearly as well.”
President Boakai tried to ignore the backhanded compliment and simply said thank you, but Trump insisted on knowing where he was educated, to which Boakai responded, “Liberia.” The head of state then shifted focus back to the purpose of the meeting, which was brokering a deal with the U.S. about accepting people who will be deported by the U.S. but denied entry by their countries of origin, leaving them ostensibly stateless.
Trump had the five countries there to negotiate down their imposed tariffs and offer them access to private investment for the exploitation of minerals in their home states. The leaders were there to try and secure a deal where people hired at mining companies would be locals who might otherwise try to emigrate west if unemployment in their countries persisted. So they had to sit through Trump’s on-camera performance for his MAGA base, like when he claimed his administration had managed to solve “a lot of anger” on their continent. They all understood Trump is now focused on his coveted Nobel Prize and simply wanted to leave with a deal that helps their people instead of sparking another argument.
On X, people were decrying this as yet another instance of Trump being a global embarrassment. One user noted that Trump’s geographical knowledge needs serious work. Trump has never made it a secret who he truly is deep down, and it’s still fascinating how his character jumps out at every opportunity. This isn’t even Trump’s first freudian slip on matters race.
Zero days without being a global embarrassment.
—Ed
Our president literally has worse geography skills than a kindergartner
— 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢 |what a joke
(@positionsmafiaa) July 9, 2025
It is commendable, however, that this time, there was no yelling.
