Donald Trump is no stranger to offending the masses.
The president often makes controversial remarks, posts long-winded and rambling rants on his Truth Social account and frequently insults the press.
While one might assume that other world leaders are immune to his jabs, Trump’s first year back in office has served as a reminder that no one is exempt.
Highlights
- Trump aggressively confronted Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, accusing him of being ungrateful for U.S. support amid wartime.
- At a tense White House meeting, Trump falsely claimed 1,000 white South African farmer graves, sparking conflict with President Ramaphosa.
- Trump complimented Canadian PM Mark Carney as a tough leader but warned he 'could be very nasty' despite being 'a nice man.'
Trump's first year has been full of headlines. Image credits: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
It has been a year full of headlines, and six incidents involving Trump insulting other world leaders, often to their faces, dominated the news cycle.
The infamous meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy
February’s Oval Office showdown between Trump, his Vice President JD Vance and President Zelenskyy is one for the history books.
The Ukrainian leader, in the midst of three-year long war with Russia, was meeting Trump at the White House to discuss a minerals deal when chaos ensued.
After being berated by a reporter for not wearing a suit and tie to meet Trump, Zelenskyy then faced the wrath of Vance and Trump—who accused him of not being grateful for U.S. support.
It started after Vance told a reporter that Ukraine and Russia should pursue a diplomatic resolution and Zelenskyy questioned those comments.
Trump shouted at Zelenskyy in the White House. Image credits: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Responding to Vance’s comment about Ukraine struggling to recruit for the military, Zelenskyy said, “First of all, during the war, everybody has problems, even you. You have nice ocean and don’t feel [it] now, but you will feel it in the future.”
Trump responded, “You don’t know that. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. We’re trying to solve a problem. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.”
When the Ukrainian leader told them that he was not “telling” but simply “responding”, Trump began to raise his voice and shouted over him when he tried to speak.
“You right now are not in a very good position,” Trump scolded. “You’ve allowed yourself to be in a very
bad position. You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having the cards.
“You’re gambling with lives of millions of people, you’re gambling with world war three and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to this country.”
Vance jumped into the fold to question, “Have you said thank you once?”
Zelenskyy assured him he had, but the VP continued to press, demanding, “Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who’s trying to save your country.”
A frustrated Zelenskyy replied, “Yes, you think that if you will speak very loudly about the war…”
The confrontation continued, with Zelenskyy insisting he was thankful and Trump speaking over him and claiming without military equipment from the U.S., Ukraine would only have lasted days.
Trump concluded, “You’re not acting at all thankful. And that’s not a nice thing. I’ll be honest, that’s not a nice thing.”
With the showdown taking place in front of the world’s media, it immediately went viral around the globe.
His dramatic ambush of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa
Trump has capped U.S. refugee admissions at a record low and given priority to White South Africans he claims are “escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation.”
After signing an executive order in February cutting aid to the country and allowing Afrikaners to be resettled in the U.S., he confronted Ramaphosa at a White House meeting.
As the pair talked in the White House during a meeting in May, tensions began to rise and Trump asked for the lights to be dimmed so he could show footage he said backed up claims of a “white genocide."
Trump and Ramaphosa clashed during the meeting. Image credits: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The compilation of clips, which was over four minutes long, included footage of white crosses on a roadside.
“This is very bad, these are burial sites right here, burial sites, over 1,000 of white farmers, and those cars are lined up to pay love on a Sunday morning,” Trump said.
“Each one of those white things you see is a cross. There are approximately 1,000 of them, they’re all white farmers, the family of white farmers.”
“Those cars aren’t driving, they’re stopped there to pay respect to their family member who was killed.
“It’s a terrible sight, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Have they told you where that is, Mr President? I’d like to know where that is,” a baffled Ramaphosa replied. “This I’ve never seen.”
“This is in South Africa,” Trump told him.
The clip was in fact from a 2020 protest after a white farming couple were murdered, with the crosses part of a peaceful protest and later removed.
Also in the footage Trump played was South African opposition figure and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema singing, “Shoot the boer [white farmer], shoot the farmer.”
Remaining calm and trying to explain the footage to Trump, Ramaphosa said, “That is not government policy. We have a multi-party democracy in South Africa that allows people to express themselves.”
“You do allow them to take land, and when they take the land they kill the white farmer, and when they kill the white farmer nothing happens to them,” Trump responded.
“No,” Ramaphosa replied. “There is criminality in our country, people who do get killed unfortunately through criminal activity are not only white people.”
Ramaphosa continued, “The majority of them are black people, and we have now...” but Trump quickly interrupted, saying, “The farmers are not black. I’m not saying that’s good or bad, but the farmers are not black.”
His snide comment about Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
Trump and Carney have butted heads on a number of issues, including Trump’s attempt to make Canada the 51st state and significant tariffs he has imposed on the country.
At an Oval Office meeting in October, the pair met for the second time this year to discuss a range of issues.
Unlike the meeting with Zelenksyy, there was no shouting match, and Trump, speaking to reporters, was very complimentary of Carney—aside from a comment or two.
Trump praised Carney but also called him nasty. Image credits: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
“I can tell you this, because I deal with lots of leaders all over the world, he is a world-class leader,” Trump told reporters after the meeting.
“He’s a man that knows what he wants, and I’m not surprised to see that he won the election, and won it substantially.
“And I would think he’s more popular now. He’s a good man. He does a great job, and he’s a tough negotiator.”
However, he went on to add, “He’s a nice man, but he could be nasty. He could be very nasty. Maybe as nasty as anybody.”
That time he tried to immitate Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
During a speech at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, in October, Trump attempted to mimic Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The moment came as Trump addressed a four-day flare-up between India and Pakistan, and he tried to imitate Modi’s accent while discussing the situation.
The tensions between the two nuclear-armed countries had escalated in May after a terrorist attack in the Indian-administered region of Kashmir left 26 people dead.
The U.S. president further described Modi as someone “you’d like to have as your father,” but added, “he’s a killer.”
Trump then tried to impersonate Modi, saying, “No, we will fight,” in what appeared to be an attempt at an Indian accent.
He continued, “I said, ‘Whoa, is that the same man that I know?’”
Trump told the crowd that he managed to stop the hostilities by threatening to impose a 250% tariff on both countries.
Trump tried to mimic Modi's accent. Image credits: Leon Neal/Getty Images
“After a little while, and they’re good people, and after literally two days they called up, and they said, ‘We understand,’ and they stopped fighting—isn’t that amazing?”
He went on to ask the room, “You think Biden would have done that? I don’t think so. Most people wouldn’t have thought of it, but you know.”
“I said I was going to put 250 percent tariffs on each country, which means that you’ll never do business … That’s a nice way of saying we don’t want to do business with you … and they understood that and within 48 hours we had no war,” Trump added.
When he made a shocking remark to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa
Trump met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House in November, marking the first time a Syrian leader had come to Washington since the country gained independence from France in 1946.
But the meeting wasn’t without a quip from Trump that many deemed to be insulting and offensive.
Trump made the comment when presenting a gift. Image credits: Syrian Presidency/Anadolu via Getty Images
After presenting al-Sharaa with a bottle of perfume, Trump sprayed the fragrance on him and described it as “the best.”
But the president put his foot in it when he offered up another gift. “And the other one is for your wife,” Trump said, asking, “How many wives?”
Al-Sharaa laughed awkwardly at Trump’s question and responded, “One.”
“With you guys, I never know,” Trump told him.
And a bonus point for his attack on all European leaders
At the UN General Assembly in New York this September, Trump turned his 15-minute allocated speech into a one-hour long rant—heavily targeting European leaders.
His speech at times elicited gasps from the audience and head-shaking from delegates as he blamed the UN for “funding an assault on Western countries and their borders.”
Trump specifically mentioned the United Kingdom and hit out at London Mayor Sadiq Khan, falsely claiming he wanted to bring London under Sharia law, which is Islam’s legal system.
In his strongest comments, Trump told European leaders, “your countries are going to hell,” because “illegal aliens are pouring” into Europe.
Turning his attention to climate change, the president implied UN employees were stupid and described the carbon footprint as a “hoax.”
“I’ve been right about everything and I’m telling you that if you don’t get away from the green energy scam, your country is going to fail,” Trump said, arguing those who made the UN global warming prediction were “stupid people.”