Donald Trump on Thursday badly flubbed the name of a country whose president was sitting right in front of him—but didn’t seem to mind.
In remarks prefacing a White House dinner with several Central Asian countries, Trump announced that Kazakhstan had agreed to join the Abraham Accords, his first term deal to help normalize relations between Israel and Muslim-majority countries.
“This evening, I’m also delighted to report that Kazakhstan has officially...joined the Abraham Accords,” Trump, seated across from President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, said, pronouncing “Abraham” correctly this time. “And I just want to thank you, Mr. President. It’s a great honor. It’s a tremendous honor to have you. Really great.”
Yet Trump, 79, not only emphasized the wrong syllable of the country’s name, but added a fourth one: “ka-ZACK-a-stan.”
That didn’t deter Tokayev, 72, from heaping praise on his counterpart.
After expressing gratitude for the meeting and complimenting Trump’s “steadfast leadership,” Tokayev commented on last year’s presidential election.
“Precisely one year ago, you achieved a landslide victory in a historic election which was absolutely clean and fair,” he said, making eye contact.
Tokayev took it further.
“You are the great leader and statesman sent by heaven to bring common-sense and traditions that we all share back into the United States’ policy, either domestic or foreign,” he claimed. “Therefore, millions of people in so many countries are so grateful to you, and I am convinced that your wise and bold policy needs to be strongly supported worldwide.”
“Thank you,” Trump said.
Tokayev also repeated Trump’s claim that he has brought an end to “eight wars.”
The president, based on his 60 Minutes interview last week, apparently keeps a list, should anyone ask—or should he forget.
While bragging in September about the peace deal he brokered between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Trump mistakenly referred to Armenia as Albania.
That same month, he falsely claimed to have settled hostiles between Armenia and Cambodia, which are 4,000 miles apart.
When Tokayev was done with his remarks Thursday, Trump seemed pleased.
“Thank you, Mr. President. Great job, too.”
The Daily Beast reached out to the White House for comment.
