President Donald Trump has once again embarrassed himself on the world stage, critics contend, after showing a blatant lack of knowledge of basic world geography.
Trump tried to bluff his way out of it at a meeting with newly elected British Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Trump and Burnham met for the first time Tuesday, for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly now underway in New York.
Burnham, Britain’s seventh prime minister in just the past 10 years, tried to hold back a laugh after Trump interrupted him to nonsensically point out the nation’s geography. Trump interrupted the British politician after Burnham used the term “Britain.”
“I think there’s a tremendous patriotism in Britain and you call it United Kingdom, Britain, sometimes they call it England. They go back to the old. It’s got more names. It’s got more names than any other place in the world,” Trump inanely crowed as Burnham tried not to giggle.
“And sometimes they have to be educated,” an unwitting Trump continued. “There’s great patriotism in the country. They want to see great things happen.”
Burnham could no longer contain himself and had to hold his head down to hide his laughter.
Social media erupted in disgust over Trump’s disturbing ignorance of maps and his attempts at covering it up, hoping no one would notice.
“Trump is an affront to the whole World. A true American Idiot,” an X user proclaimed.
Other posters were angry. “Rambling f-cking fool. He is a damn simpleton. His babbling nonsense is a pathetic display.”
This commenter essentially acknowledged that ignorance is bliss. “He is too stupid to be humiliated!”
The United Kingdom is a sovereign country that includes the political union of four nations: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
Great Britain is an island made up of England, Scotland and Wales. England is just one of the countries that make up the United Kingdom.
Burnham, who did raise his eyebrows, let Trump’s nonsensical geographical explanation of his country go in the first major diplomatic test of his new position.
Burnham, the former mayor of Manchester in northwest England, replaced Keir Starmer in July. And Trump mostly praised the new leader during their meeting.
Trump has made geographical gaffes throughout both terms in office.
In one of the worst mix-ups, Trump repeatedly confused the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska with Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. He comically referred to oil in ANWR as “Bram,” claiming it was larger than Saudi Arabia.
He also mixed up the name of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime oil supply route in the Middle East, calling it instead the Strait of Iran.
In 2017, Trump butchered the name of the African nation of Namibia. Speaking to African leaders at a U.N. lunch, the president extolled the virtues of a health system in a country he called “Nambia,” which doesn’t exist. Critics say he simply mispronounced Namibia.
And last year he confused Albania with Azerbaijan when talking about a peace deal at a European Summit. That prompted snickers and jokes from European leaders.
