Trump References Non-Existent Country During UN Speech

Is our president just making up countries now?

This is a photo of Donald Trump.
Image via Getty/Brendan Smialowski
This is a photo of Donald Trump.

During a luncheon at the United Nations on Wednesday, Donald Trump delivered a speech that had several cringe-worthy moments. Like when he referred to the non-existent African country of Nambia.

“In Guinea and Nigeria you fought a horrifying Ebola outbreak,” Trump said in front of African leaders at the UN General Assembly. “Nambia’s health system is increasingly self-sufficient.”

​​Did the president just make up a country and assume no one would notice? Though that wouldn’t be surprising, a White House official later clarified the president meant to say “Namibia,” which does exist.

He clearly didn’t learn his lesson after his 2016 Tanzania slip-up

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Earlier in the speech, Trump praised Africa for its economic progress and business potential. But his wording was extremely off-putting and made him sound like a cheerleader for neo-colonialism.

“I have so many friends going to your countries trying to get rich. I congratulate you, they're spending a lot of money,” he said. “It has tremendous business potential, representing huge amounts of different markets. ... It's really become a place they have to go, that they want to go."

The room was silent. Because who the hell applauds themselves for being exploited?

For a thorough breakdown of his puzzling speech, you can read annotations in this Washington Post piece here.

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