Donald Trump Sparks Outrage, Faces Massive Backlash with Racist Remark to Liberian President: “Where Did You Learn English?”

US President Donald Trump has triggered fresh global outrage after making a racially insensitive remark to Liberian President Joseph Boakai during a White House meeting with African leaders.

“Such good English, it’s beautiful. Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?” Trump asked Boakai, seemingly unaware that English is Liberia’s official language, a fact rooted in its historical founding.

Boakai, composed and dignified, replied with a smile: “I was educated in Liberia.”

The exchange, caught on camera, has since gone viral and is being widely condemned as yet another example of Trump’s casual racism and ignorance about Africa. The incident has caused a firestorm on social media, with many Africans and Americans alike accusing Donald Trump of ignorance and racism at worst.

Trump’s History of Racist Slurs Resurfaces

This is far from the first time Trump has come under fire for insensitive remarks. In 2018, he notoriously referred to El Salvador, Haiti and Africa as ‘shithole countries’ during a discussion about immigration. 

“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump reportedly asked during a meeting with Congress members at the White House.

This remark sparked massive outrage with international organisations including the UN and African Union, politicians and people from African countries and Caribbeans condemning the US President for the racist comment.

Trump on ‘White Genocide’ in South Africa

Not the only one, Donald Trump also falsely claimed there was a ‘white genocide’ of farmers in South Africa. He alleged that Black South Africans are killing white farmers because of their race while granting refugee status to the members of South Africa’s Afrikaner community in the United States earlier this year. 

Trump often bear the brunt of critics for repeatedly mocked the accents of non-white world leaders and mispronounced foreign names.

In 2019, United States President Donald Trump launched a racist attack on a group of Democratic congresswomen. He asked them to go back to what he called the ‘broken and crime infested places from which they came’. He totally ignored the fact that the women are American citizens and all but one was born in the US.

Massive Outrage Against Trump

Are these repeated gaffes symptoms of deep-rooted prejudice and a worldview shaped by stereotypes and racial superiority? Netizens believe so as global condemnation grows for US President Donald Trump.

Trump VS Biden On Racism

During the 2020 presidential race debates, the controversy around race and leadership in America reignited. President Joe Biden’s campaign team wasted no time flagging that America needs a president who ‘doesn’t confuse ignorance for diplomacy’.

While Joe Biden has faced his own controversies around race, civil rights leaders reportedly believe Donald Trump’s comments are consistently worse and more frequent.

White House Response: “It Was a Compliment”

Despite the uproar, the Trump administration defended the comment. Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly reportedly said it was ‘a heartfelt compliment’ and claimed that the meeting was one of the most productive engagements with African leaders in recent memory’. “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.

But for many, the damage was done.

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