'How's he being prepped?' CNN panel blames Trump's team for 'offensive' comments

President Donald Trump praised an African leader's strong grasp of English – the official language of his country – and panelists on "CNN This Morning" agreed that was a blunder he should never have made.

The president commented on the "beautiful" English spoken by his Liberian counterpart Joseph Boakai, who informed him that he'd been educated in Liberia – a country that had been founded as a haven for freed slaves from the U.S. – and Trump faced widespread criticism for his comment during a meeting with African leaders.

"He doesn't do propriety well," said former Republican congressman Charlie Dent. "You know he, well, he was offering a compliment, and he was trying to offer a compliment, but was completely inappropriate in doing so and frankly offensive, because this man's native language is apparently English, and apparently the president, our president, doesn't understand the historical ties to Liberia, given a lot of free slaves were returned there, and the capital is Monrovia, for James Monroe. I mean, yeah, it just kind of displayed a lot of ignorance."

Meghan Hayes, a former White House communications staffer for Joe Biden, said the president's remarks reinforced embarrassing stereotypes about Americans.

"This just amplifies the term 'ugly American,'" Hayes said. "Anyone who's traveled abroad, we all feel that when you go somewhere, we're loud, we're travel in packs, and everyone looks at us like, 'Oh, my gosh, those are the Americans.' This is just why people think that we are so terrible all the time. Like, how can our leader and our president be so dumb to just say this in front of press in an open meeting? I mean, how is this even a compliment? Even if it, you know, even, how is he – I just, it's hard to fathom. You just can't make it up."

Host Audie Cornish pointed out that Liberia's historic ties to the U.S. exemplified the type of so-called "woke" history that Trump and his allies were working to hide from Americans, and one of her guests added that the president's staff should not have allowed him to walk into that meeting so unprepared.

"How is he getting prepped?" said Axios reporter Sara Fischer. "What is the priority for when he's prepping for these meetings and understanding the history and the culture? Clearly, that's just not a priority. He's walking in pretty blind, and so that speaks to how much of a priority they take in understanding the history and the culture. If he was adequately prepped for this meeting, that mistake would not have been made."

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