WASHINGTON (TNND) — President Donald Trump was visibly impressed when he praised the president of Liberia for his English-speaking skills during a White House meeting.
Liberian President Joseph Boakai visited Washington, D.C. Wednesday as part of Trump’s meeting with five African leaders.
At one point, Trump asked Boakai where he learned to speak the language “so beautifully.”
Thank you and such good English … Where did you learn to speak so beautifully. Where? Were you educated. Where? In Liberia?” Trump asked Boakai.
Boakai seemed to laugh politely and nodded. He said “Thank you” and “Yes, sir,” when Trump asked if he was educated in Liberia.
“That’s very interesting. Beautiful English,” Trump replied.
“I have people at this table who can’t speak nearly as well,” he added.
Trump is facing some criticism — and a few compliments — for his comments and questions, as English is the official language of Liberia.
I felt insulted because our country is an English-speaking country,” Archie Tamel Harris, who is a Liberian youth advocate, told CNN.
For him to ask that question, I don’t see it as a compliment. I feel that the U.S. president and people in the west still see Africans as people in villages who are not educated,” Tamel Harris told the media outlet.
Others took to social media to share their feelings, with one person calling Trump a “f**king ignoramus” who had no idea English is Liberia’s national language.
In reply, one man noted that the African leaders seemed content amid their visit to the U.S. and appeared eager to meet Trump.
“Your narrative is completely skewed — Trumps [sic] unpredictability, together with the power that he wields, commands utmost respect” the man wrote.
Another person on X said Boakai and his fellow African leaders should have known better than to rub elbows with Trump.
“If you settle for less than you deserve, you’d get less than you settled for. They packed themselves like [sardines] to be humiliated,” according to the post.
Someone else mentioned that “just because it’s the official language doesn’t mean they speak perfect English.”
Some people said Trump was just being kind and generous.
“How can anyone hate this man? He goes out of his way to bring people good vibes,” one person wrote on X.
According to CNN, the White House Press Office defended Trump’s comment.
“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,” Massad Boulos, who is Trump’s senior advisor for Africa, said in a statement to the media outlet.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly shared similar sentiments. She described Trump’s comment as a “heartfelt compliment.”
“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 told CNN.
Boakai, meanwhile, told Trump he and Liberia want “to work with the United States in peace and security within the region. We are committed to that and we just want to thank you so much for this opportunity.”
Liberia is a country in West Africa that was founded by freed American slaves in the 1800.
“The founding of Liberia in the early 1800s was motivated by the domestic politics of slavery and race in the United States as well as by U.S. foreign policy interests. In 1816, a group of white Americans founded the American Colonization Society (ACS) to deal with the ‘problem’ of the growing number of free blacks in the United States by resettling them in Africa. The resulting state of Liberia would become the second (after Haiti) black republic in the world at that time,” according to the Office of the Historian.
