I never knew there were so many countries, Trump says in Japan visit
US President Donald Trump has candidly revealed his ignorance of geography and international politics, saying he never knew there were “so many countries” until he was elected president.
Trump dropped the clangor while delivering a speech to Japanese dignitaries on the first leg of his Asian tour on Monday, admitting that he had been unaware of the number of countries in the world until he became president and received congratulatory phone calls from world leaders over his election victory.
The US president also referred to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe by his first name as he was recounting how he first became acquainted with the premier during a meeting in New York in November last year, just over a week after his surprise election win.
“So my relationship with Shinzo got off to quite a rocky start because I never ran for office, and here I am. But I never ran, so I wasn’t very experienced. And after I had won, everybody was calling me from all over the world. I never knew we had so many countries,” Trump said.
The businessman-turned politician continued to explain how inexperienced and ill-informed he had been when he assumed the office, once again proving his incompetence for the post of presidency.
“I didn’t know you were supposed to not see world leaders until after you were in office which was January 20th,” he said.
“You were just not supposed to because it was considered bad form. It was not a nice thing to do and I understand that from the standpoint of the president whose place you were taking,” Trump added.
The US president’s offhand comments in Japan went viral on social media and faced massive outrage and mockery.
Trump’s visit to Japan was part of a 12-day Asian tour aimed at urging the international community to place maximum pressure on North Korea over its nuclear and missiles program.
On his five-nation Asia tour, the US president will also visit South Korea, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
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