Trump meets w/ the leader of Panama, says “we did a good job building” the Panama Canal—a structure that’s been around for 100+ years ago. pic.twitter.com/uUBJKVDjAP
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 19, 2017
Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump hosted Panama’s President Juan Carlos Varela and his wife, Lorena Castillo de Varela during a photo op at the White House on Monday. Meetings such as this are commonplace, especially in the media-engorged Trump administration, but comments made by the current U.S. president rubbed viewers — and possibly Varela himself — the wrong way. That’s because Trump spent a whopping 39 seconds introducing the Panamanian president and his wife while randomly commenting on the Panama Canal, which America “did a good job building.”
“It’s our great honor to have President and Mrs. Varela from Panama. We have many things to discuss. We’re going to spend quite a bit of time today,” Trump began before inadvertently segueing into his Panama Canal comments. “The Panama Canal is doing quite well, I think we did a good job building it. Right? Very good job.” Varela simply smiled and nodded throughout Trump’s bit, but that didn’t stop Politico and countless other outlets from fact-checking the latter in real time.
Obviously, just because Trump said “we did a good job building [it]” directly to Varela doesn’t mean the president actually thinks he is in any way responsible for constructing a structure overseen by President Theodore Roosevelt and completed in 1914. Yet that didn’t stop journalists, politicos, pundits and the like on Twitter from ridiculing him for his characteristically off-the-wall statement.
The Panama Canal is being recognized more and more. https://t.co/z9QVVzGdxP
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 19, 2017
https://twitter.com/SteveKopack/status/876834974212780036
Trump just took credit for building the Panama Canal.
Now he's pissed off the ghost of Teddy Roosevelt.— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) June 19, 2017
President Trump asks for credit for building Panama Canal.
Panama's Leader reminds him it was 100 yrs ago. https://t.co/dWAXRTRGfg
— Jesse Ferguson (@JesseFFerguson) June 19, 2017
Look he's not wrong about the Panama Canal.
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) June 19, 2017
US took over building the Panama Canal in 1904. 5,600 died of disease and accidents. Canal locks later expanded. (From Marine One 2015) pic.twitter.com/lV5zy2jIrV
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) June 19, 2017
Oh, dear God.
Trump is meeting with Panama's leader at WH.
"The Panama Canal is doing quite well. We did a good job building it, right?"
🙄🙄🙄— Holly Figueroa O'Reilly 🌸 (@AynRandPaulRyan) June 19, 2017
Donald Trump hasn't commented on a white terrorist attacking Muslims in London, but he has taken credit for the Panama Canal. 🙄
— Rex Huppke (@RexHuppke) June 19, 2017
https://twitter.com/JWGOP/status/876842474421006337
https://twitter.com/KevinLankes/status/876831643792805890
The Panama Canal was a winning issue for Ronald Reagan https://t.co/aHzkeFvPx3
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) June 19, 2017
Imagine being so ill-prepared to meet a world leader that what you talk about is the freaking Panama Canal.pic.twitter.com/h7ycSt5obH
— Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) June 19, 2017
(Via MSNBC)