President Donald Trump was surprised Wednesday to hear the Liberian president speak fluent English, even though it’s Liberia’s official language.
In a room filled with African heads of state, each speaking through interpreters and headsets, Liberian President Joseph Boakai didn’t need equipment or a translator. He spoke clearly in perfect English.
That’s when the president leaned in with admiration—and a question that drew criticism around the world.
“Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?” Trump asked.
The comment came during a White House luncheon with the leaders of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal. President Boakai had just finished praising Trump’s leadership and expressed a desire to strengthen economic ties between the two nations.
“Liberia is a longtime friend of the United States, and we believe in your policy of making America great again,” Boakai told Trump. “We just want to thank you so much for this opportunity.”
Trump responded warmly to Boakai, but the president seemed clueless that Liberia was established by the United States as a nation for freed Black Americans.
“Such good English,” Trump said. “Where did you learn to speak so beautifully? Where? Were you educated? Where?”
Boakai began speaking, but Trump interrupted, marveling aloud: “In Liberia? Well, that’s very interesting. That’s beautiful English. I have people at this table who can’t speak nearly as well.”
A few nervous chuckles in the room broke the tension.
To some, Trump’s remarks sounded like a casual compliment. But to others, it revealed a glaring lack of understanding about the long and deep historical relationship between the United States and Liberia—a country whose government and constitution were modeled after America’s, and where English has been the dominant language since the 19th century.
Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett, of Texas, called Trump out in real time for “peak ignorance.”
“Trump never misses an opportunity to be racist and wrong, and every day he finds a new way to be embarrassing. Asking the President of Liberia where he learned English when it’s literally the official language is peak ignorance,” she said in a post on social media. “I’m pretty sure being blatantly offensive is not how you go about conducting diplomacy.”
Michelle Gavin, a former senior director for Africa at the National Security Council under President Barack Obama, called the episode “embarrassing.” She told The New York Times the exchange suggested “very little preparation for this meeting,” and that the message it sent to Liberians was that Trump “did not seem to be aware of the historical relationship between their countries.”
That historical relationship goes back to 1822, when the American Colonization Society—a mix of abolitionists, philanthropists, and slaveholders—helped establish Liberia as a colony for freed Black Americans. Liberia declared independence in 1847, adopting a constitution based largely on the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Today, while several Indigenous languages are spoken, English remains the official national language.
Despite that, Trump’s question struck a nerve for many Liberians.
“I felt insulted because our country is an English-speaking country,” Archie Tamel Harris, a Liberian youth advocate, told CNN. “For him to ask that question, I don’t see it as a compliment. I feel that the US president and people in the West still see Africans as people in villages who are not educated.”
The odd exchange led some critics to question whether Trump was once again using dog whistles and racial innuendo to rile up his base, particularly far-right extremists who have remained loyal to him, especially after his Jan. 6 pardons earlier this year.
A Liberian diplomat, speaking anonymously to CNN, said the remark “was not appropriate,” and described it as “a bit condescending to an African president who’s from an English-speaking nation.”
South African politician Veronica Mente asked on social media, “What stops [Boakai] from standing up and leav[ing]?”
Outrage spilled onto social media, where Trump walked into a hornet’s nest of brutal one-liners over what many saw as a slight against the Liberian president.
“He’s ignorant af,” one critic wrote in response to a clip of the exchange posted to Instagram by Atlanta Black Star.
“This simpleton always embarrasses us,” someone else wrote.
The blistering commentary came at Trump like a flurry of jabs and uppercuts.
“His mouth is just a fly catcher at this point,” one person quipped.
“Just goes to show that you can have low social skills and a low IQ and become president,” another man observed.
Still, the Trump administration defended the president’s words.
Massad Boulos, Trump’s senior adviser for Africa—and the father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany—told CNN, “I was in the meeting, and everyone was deeply appreciative of the president’s time and effort. The continent of Africa has never had such a friend in the White House as they do in President Trump.”
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly echoed that defense, calling Trump’s words “a heartfelt compliment” and dismissing the controversy as “fake news.”
“Reporters should recognize that President Trump has already done more to restore global stability and uplift countries in Africa and around the world than Joe Biden did in four years,” Kelly said.
Liberia’s own foreign minister, Sara Beysolow Nyanti, downplayed the incident.
“There was no offense,” she told the network, adding that “many people do not understand the linguistic borders or linguistic demography of the African continent.”
“What President Trump heard distinctly was the American influence on our English in Liberia, and the Liberian president is not offended by that,” Nyanti said. “We know that English has different accents and forms, and so him picking up the distinct intonation that has its roots in American English for us was just recognizing a familiar English version.”
Trump has a history of commenting on the speaking skills of foreign leaders. At a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump once complimented Merz’s “good English” and jokingly asked if it was as good as his German. Merz replied with a laugh, saying he tries “to understand almost everything” and speaks English “as good as I can.”
Still, for many critics, the moment with Boakai carried more weight because of Trump’s previous rhetoric, denouncing Africa. In 2018, he infamously referred to African nations as “sh—hole countries.”
When South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the White House back in May, Trump echoed false claims that white South African farmers were facing genocide — a narrative he used to justify changes to his immigration policy that welcomed white Afrikaners into the U.S., even as lifelong, law-abiding migrants of color are being deported in growing numbers.
On Wednesday, Trump appeared to have changed his tune, describing all African nations as “very vibrant places with very valuable land, great minerals, great oil deposits, and wonderful people.”
The African leaders, in turn, offered praise of their own, asking Trump to consider greater investment in their countries’ natural resources and infrastructure.
Boakai remained focused on business and did not appear offended by Trump’s remarks. Later that day, the White House posted a photo of Boakai and Trump smiling together in the Oval Office.
