From ‘Shithole Countries’ to ‘Such Good English’: Why Trump’s Words About Africa Can’t Be Dismissed as Mistakes

When, on May 21, Donald Trump ambushed South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office and forced him and his delegation to watch fake footage of hate speech and fabricated evidence of burial grounds of white farmers in South Africa, many were quick to dismiss it as the usual Trump tendency to ridicule and belittle those he shares different world view with.

But there could be something more.

On July 9, five African leaders — from Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal — all of which have small populations and economies, began their three-day summit in Washington, D.C. While the White House described the event as an “incredible” commercial opportunity, it was during this summit that Donald Trump, once again — this time under the guise of praise — belittled Joseph Boakai, President of Liberia, when he complimented Boakai’s English and asked him where he had studied.

“Such good English,” Trump said to Boakai, after the Liberian president had lavished praise on Trump and thanked him for the opportunity. As Trump continued, you could begin to scratch beyond the surface of the compliment and see the subtle belittling — or outright ignorance. An ignorance not rooted in a lack of knowledge, but in indifference. A kind of ignorance that says: ‘I don’t care to know, because it simply doesn’t matter — or is beneath me.’

“Where did you learn to speak so beautifully? Where were you educated? In Liberia?” Trump asked.

Before going into further details of that uncomfortable exchange, there’s something inherently concerning about these remarks.

First, and most obviously, English is the official language of Liberia. This is a country founded in 1822 as an outpost for freed slaves returning from the Americas — a nation that achieved independence in 1847 with the help of the American Colonization Society, a private U.S.-based organization.

Does Trump not know this history?

It is standard procedure that when delegates such as presidents or heads of state from other countries visit a U.S. president, detailed information about them is always made available to the U.S. president and his team — often well in advance of the meeting. These briefings include personal background, such as biography, political affiliation, and academic history.

Therefore, it is disturbing — and almost impossible to accept — that something as basic as the fact that President Boakai holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Liberia, where the language of instruction is English, could be so easily overlooked or ignored.

But Donald Trump has long exhibited a pattern of utter disregard for Africans — and for the Black race in general.

Records of Donald Trump Shaming Africa or the Black Race

There is a long and troubling record of statements — public and private — in which Trump ridicules Africa, belittles its people, and casually questions the competence or worth of Black leadership. And when you stack them side by side, the pattern becomes disturbingly clear.

In June 2017, during a closed-door meeting on immigration, Trump allegedly said Haitian immigrants “all have AIDS” and that once Nigerians come to the United States, “they would never go back to their huts.” If you regard that as a slip of the tongue, it is nonetheless the kind of thinking that views Africans as primitive, diseased, and undesirable. The White House denied the report, but it was too specific, too characteristic, and too familiar to dismiss.

Then came January 11, 2018 — the day the phrase “shithole countries” officially entered modern diplomatic history. In the middle of a bipartisan immigration meeting at the White House, Trump asked why the U.S. was accepting immigrants from “shithole countries” like Haiti and African nations instead of places like Norway. He reportedly added, “Why do we need more Haitians? Take them out.”

Although the African Union demanded an apology, Botswana summoned the U.S. envoy for clarification, Ghana’s president publicly rejected the insult, and even the United Nations labeled the remark ‘racist,’ what was most striking wasn’t just the vulgarity — it was the underlying message: that, in Trump’s view, African countries are irredeemably broken, their people unworthy, and their leaders irrelevant.

And then there’s the quieter, more insidious part — the ones that come out later, in memoirs and leaked conversations. In Michael Cohen’s 2020 book Disloyal, the former Trump fixer claimed Trump once asked him, “Tell me one country run by a Black person that isn’t a shithole.” Again, the implication was not just about geography — it was about leadership. It was about whether Black leadership, particularly African leadership, was even capable of producing anything worth respect.

These are not disconnected moments. They are tiles in a larger mosaic of disdain — for Blackness, for African identity, and for the idea that African leaders might be equals on the world stage. And when Trump looks across that table, whether it’s at Ramaphosa, Boakai, or any other African president, he doesn’t see partners. He sees something lesser. Something foreign. Something unworthy of learning about — or respecting.

And that is what makes all of this not just ignorant, but dangerously concerning.