They say everyone slips up on geography sometimes — but when it’s the President of the United States, the world can’t help but chuckle.
European leaders had a field day laughing at Donald Trump’s latest map mishap.
”Many people come from the Congo”
Donald Trump seems to have a unique approach to geography—at least when it comes to countries and regions that pique his interest. There’s the famous Gulf of America, his bid to make Greenland “American,” and a few other ambitious ideas. But when it comes to places a bit further afield, things get… fuzzier.
A few months ago, Trump admitted he wasn’t quite sure where the Congo in Africa is, saying, “many people come from the Congo.”
Trump has also confused Hungary and Turkey, calling Viktor Orbán ”the leader of Turkey” and claiming that Hungary is right next to Russia.
On another occasion, he famously said, “We’re going to Russia,” just before a meeting with Vladimir Putin — which, in reality, took place in Alaska, according to Politico.
Geographical mix-up
And more recently, he’s repeatedly mixed up two completely different countries while boasting about his foreign policy wins, even taking credit for calming historic tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
On Fox News last month, Trump boasted: ”I solved wars that was unsolvable. Azerbaijan and Albania, it was going on for many, many years, I had the prime ministers and presidents in my office.”
Yep… you see where he got his wires crossed.
During a summit in Copenhagen on Thursday (October 2), EU leaders couldn’t resist having a laugh. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama turned to President Emmanuel Macron and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and joked:
”You should make an apology to us because you didn’t congratulate us on the peace deal that President Trump made between Albania and Azerbaijan,” according to Politico.
The trio erupted in laughter, with Macron replying: ”I’m sorry for that.”
Albania (in the Balkans, Europe) and Azerbaijan (in the South Caucasus, near Armenia) are completely separate countries and have no conflict with each other.
Despite the slip-ups, Trump did help broker a real deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia in August to end a conflict that had raged for nearly four decades.
President Aliyev met with Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the White House and agreed to a peace deal that, as of now, remains unsigned.
Still, Trump hasn’t let the details stop him from calling it a major U.S. and personal victory. He even described the meeting with a touch of warmth:
”And they started off at both sides of the Oval Office, so far away, I didn’t know you could be so far away. And as we were together for an hour, they kept getting closer and closer and by the time we finished, we all hugged each other.”
When pressed about the deal during a press conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump once again stumbled over the geography, mispronouncing Azerbaijan as “Aber-baijan” and, of course, bringing Albania into the mix again:
”I am very disappointed in the fact that that one’s not settled. To think that we settled, Aber-baijan, and Albania, as an example. It was going on for years. It was never gonna be settled. If you remember the prime minister and the presidents and they were there for many years, they said when they were in my office, we settled.”
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