Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
It’s not the first time the U.S. president has mixed up geography.
During a speech at the American Business Forum, U.S. President Donald Trump once again drew headlines by appearing not to have a grasp of basic geography.
Speaking about the upcoming G20 summit in South Africa, the president began talking about why he believes South Africa shouldn’t even be in the G20 — but then started to confuse South Africa with South America:
“For generations, Miami has been a haven for those fleeing communist tyranny in South Africa. I mean, if you take a look at what’s going on in parts of South Africa. Look at South Africa, what’s going on. Look at South America, what’s going on. You know, we have a G20 meeting in South Africa. South Africa shouldn’t even be in the Gs anymore. Because what’s happened there is bad. I’m not going,” he said.
But there are several issues with that statement.
Never a Communist Regime
South Africa was ruled by the system of apartheid from 1948 to the early 1990s, but the country has never been communist.
South American countries such as Venezuela and Cuba, on the other hand, are notorious for having that kind of rule.
Additionally, when Trump said that Miami has been a haven for immigrants fleeing communist tyranny in South Africa, the numbers don’t add up either.
According to data from the Migration Policy Institute, there were 4,900 South African-born immigrants living in Florida from 2019 to 2023.
Other sources estimate that there are approximately 8,100 South Africans living in the state.
In comparison, there were more than 1.6 million Cubans living in Florida as of 2023.
Not the First Country Mix-Up
During an appearance on Fox News in September, Trump said:
“I ended wars that were thought to be unsolvable. Azerbaijan and Albania. It went on for many, many years.”
He repeated those claims at a joint press conference with the U.K. prime minister.
The fact is that Trump brokered a deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan, not Albania and Azerbaijan.
And in 2023, Trump confused Hungary with Turkey when he referred to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as “the leader of Turkey,” also stating that his country has a “front” with Russia.
Neither Hungary nor Turkey shares a land border with Russia.
Sources: Politico, The Independent, Fox News, X, U.S. Census Bureau, Migration Policy Institute, The Daily Beast
This article is made and published by Jens Asbjørn Bogen, who may have used AI in the preparation
