Donald Trump Read An ‘Irish Proverb’ For St. Patrick’s Day That Turned Out To Be A Nigerian Poem

How many times can Donald Trump manage to screw up one simple holiday? Well let’s see. So far this St. Patrick’s Day, he’s managed to tweet and misspell “Lá fhéile Pádraig sona dhuit,” (which means “Happy St. Patrick’s Day” in Gaelic), and on Thursday he got owned by Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, who stood in the White House right the hell next to him and delivered a pro-immigration message.

Another gaffe that flew under the radar during Kenny’s visit however, is equally hilarious and humiliating for the President. During the Thursday St. Patrick’s Day reception, Trump read from what he said was an old Irish proverb, which goes as follows:

“As we stand together with our Irish friends, I’m reminded of that proverb — and this is a good one, this is one I like. I’ve heard it for many, many years and I love it: ‘Always remember to forget the friends that proved untrue, but never forget to remember those that have stuck by you.’ We know that, politically speaking. A lot of us know that, we know it well. It’s a great phrase.”

Wow, how uncharacteristically dignified that sounds! And coming from the President of the United States, no less. There’s only one problem with Trump’s proverb, in that it’s not a proverb at all but part of a poem by Nigerian poet Albashir Adam Alhassan, which was quickly pointed out on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/colz/status/842419121979551744

Oh well, at least he tried, and if nothing else this administration can be summed up by an “A for effort.”

(Via Quartz Media)

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