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'He knew nothing about so many things': Trump White House staffers were 'startled' by his ignorance
September 20, 2022 7:17AM ET
Donald Trump (Photo by Mandel Ngan for AFP)
While promoting their book "The Divider" on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Tuesday morning, journalists Peter Baker and Susan Glasser revealed anecdotes about Donald Trump's absolute ignorance about world affairs and even geography when he was president that stunned aides.
Speaking with co-host Jonathan Lemire, the two authors were asked about Trump's issues dealing with former leaders and they revealed a story about the former president offering to give away the West Bank.
"There is so much about his meetings with Putin in Helsinki, his efforts to walk out of NATO," host Lemire began. "This headline, which took my breath away when I read it over the weekend, that he nearly gave away the West Bank -- tell us how that could have happened."
"We decided to do this book after he left office because there was more to learn," Baker admitted. "One was the great anecdote where apparently Trump calls up [former Treasury Secretary] Steve Mnuchin at the Davos conference when he's meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan and put him on the phone, and said, 'Hey king, I've got a great deal for you, I'm going to give you the West Bank.' And anybody who understands Jordan where the Palestinian population is sort of a restive force in politics there and understands that was not anything King Abdullah wanted."
"He told an American friend, 'I nearly had a heart attack, I doubled over, I couldn't breathe,'" Baker continued. "It went to where Donald Trump's view of the world is very superficial and transactional -- and he is simply going to give the king something the king has no interest in having."
"It explains a lot about his foreign policy, which was very, very much built on the basis of someone who didn't spend a single day in office prior to becoming president and he had a lot to learn, " he elaborated. "He didn't know the difference between the Baltics and Balkans. One aide was saying he knew nothing about so many things, it was startling to them even after they spent time in his presence."
Watch the video below or at this link.
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