They say everyone makes a mistake with geography at some point — but when you’re the President of the United States, the world can’t help but chuckle.
Recently, European leaders found a lot to laugh about with Donald Trump’s geographic misunderstandings.
“Many People Come from the Congo”
Donald Trump appears to have his own distinct way of understanding geography, especially when it comes to countries and areas that catch his eye. Over the years, he’s demonstrated some rather bold and curious ideas, like discussing the Gulf of America or the notion of making Greenland an American territory. However, his understanding of more distant places seems a bit… blurred.
Just a few months back, Trump confessed to not really knowing where the Congo is in Africa. He famously remarked, “many people come from the Congo.”
One can’t help but shake their head at such incidents. In an astonishing admission, Donald Trump confessed he was unsure about the Congo’s location in Africa, commenting, “many people come from the Congo. I don’t know what that is.” This might have been another moment that added fuel to his critics’ argument about his capability.
Further adding to the confusion, Trump has mixed up Hungary and Turkey, mistakenly referring to Viktor Orbán as “the leader of Turkey” and claiming that Hungary was right next to Russia.
Another memorable moment was when he stated, “We’re going to Russia,” just before a meeting with Vladimir Putin, although it actually took place in Alaska, as reported by Politico.
Geographical Mix-up
More recently, Trump has confused two entirely different countries, taking credit for easing long-standing tensions, believing they were the same. On Fox News last month, Trump stated: “I solved wars that were unsolvable. Azerbaijan and Albania, it was happening for many, many years, and I had the prime ministers and presidents in my office.”
You can almost see where this misunderstanding came about.
At a summit in Copenhagen on Thursday (October 2), EU leaders couldn’t help but poke fun at the situation. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama humorously turned to French President Emmanuel Macron and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev:
“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,” reported Politico.
Laughter ensued, with Macron responding: “I’m sorry for that.”
Albania, located in the Balkans in Europe, and Azerbaijan, in the South Caucasus next to Armenia, are completely separate nations without conflicts with each other.
Despite these mix-ups, Trump did help facilitate a real accord between Azerbaijan and Armenia in August to end nearly four decades of conflict.
President Aliyev and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met at the White House, reaching a peace agreement that remains unsigned for the moment.
Nevertheless, Trump overlooks the specifics and regards it as a substantial success for the U.S. and himself. He even described the meet-up warmly:
“And they started off at both sides of the Oval Office, so far away, I didn’t know you could be so far apart. And as our meeting progressed over an hour, they kept getting closer and by the end, we all hugged each other.”
In a press event alongside UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump once more fumbled with geography, mispronouncing Azerbaijan as “Aber-baijan” and repeating the Albania mix-up:
“I am quite disappointed at the fact that this one hasn’t been settled. To think that we settled, Aber-baijan, and Albania, for instance. It had been ongoing for years. It was never going to be settled. You might recall, the prime minister and the presidents said when they were in my office, we settled.”
