NEED TO KNOW
- Donald Trump complimented the English of President Joseph Boakai of Liberia, a nation whose official language is English
- “Such good English, such beautiful … Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?” Trump asked Boakai
- Both Liberian and American government officials expressed disdain for Trump’s comments
Donald Trump applauded Liberian President Joseph Boakai’s English, though it’s Liberia’s official language.
During a White House lunch with leaders from Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Senegal and Liberia on Wednesday, July 9, Boakai was proposing U.S. investment in his country when an awkward moment arose.
After conversing with two African leaders through a translator, Trump complimented Boakai’s “beautiful” English, according to reports from The Guardian and CNN.
“Such good English, such beautiful … Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?” Trump asked Boakai. “Where were you educated? In Liberia?”
Boakai let out a laugh, The Guardian reported, before telling Trump, “Yes sir.”
“That’s very interesting,” Trump said, noting that other African leaders at the table “can’t speak [English] nearly as well.”
Liberia was formally established in 1847 as Africa’s first republic after scores of freed enslaved people and free-born African people from the United States were resettled in the area, according to the CIA.
The move was prompted by the American Colonization Society, a group founded by White Americans who aimed to “deal with the ‘problem’ of the growing number of free blacks in the United States by resettling them in Africa,” according to U.S. State Department.
Because of the country’s deep ties to the United States, English became Liberia’s official language. Twenty other languages — including a variant called Liberian English — are also spoken in Liberia, according to the CIA.
Trump’s comments on Wednesday sparked a strong reaction from Liberian citizens and some U.S. politicians alike.
A Liberian diplomat who spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity said Trump’s comment was “not appropriate” and “a bit condescending to an African president who’s from an English-speaking nation.”
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Rep. Jasmine Crockett voiced stronger sentiments against Trump, stating he “never misses an opportunity to be racist and wrong.”
“Asking the President of Liberia where he learned English when it’s literally the official language is peak ignorance,” Crockett wrote in a post on X. “I’m pretty sure being blatantly offensive is not how you go about conducting diplomacy…”
Trump administration officials, like White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly, contended that Trump’s comment was a “heartfelt compliment” to the Liberian president, per CNN.
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