President Donald Trump just attended the first meeting of the newly invented Shield of the Americas in Doral, Florida. He met with a room full of Latin American leaders and was quick to take the room down by insulting their languages.
Trump told the leaders, “I don’t have time” to learn the various languages of the Latin American leaders attending the meeting. However, he did add, “And so good that we got to know so many of you. I mean, we’re so many. And I’d love to get to your countries at some point.”
“Marco loves going to your countries,” Trump quipped, speaking of his Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “He’s always at one of these countries.”
“He likes your countries the best, okay? You know? Where are you? I’m in Chile. Oh, good. How’s Chile doing? Good,” the president added. “He likes it. He feels very calm. We all like him, right? It helps. He’s got a language advantage over me.”
“Because I’m not learning your damn languages,” Trump said to an uncomfortable room. “I don’t have time. I was okay with languages, but I’m not going to spend time learning your language.”
“That much, I won’t do. Just give me a good interpreter. Interpreter? Very important. And I know if somebody is good,” Trump continued. “I may not speak the language, but I know I had an interpreter recently that wasn’t good, talking to a very strong person from a different part of the world.”
“And I could tell, even though I – even though I don’t speak the language, I could tell the interpreter was not good,” the president added. “When you go, uh, uh, uh, when I give a long, flowing, beautiful sentence, and in this case it was a woman, and she gave it in about one-fourth the time, I said, well, their language may be efficient, but it’s not that efficient.”
“And I could also tell when I have great interpreters,” Trump continued.
Trump to Latin American leaders: “I’m not learning your damn language. I don’t have time.” pic.twitter.com/02eQBPS9Gv
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 7, 2026
It isn’t surprising that social media came alive with a mix of reactions to the X video some for Trump, more against.
A social media user wrote, “Learning and speaking multiple languages is a mental upgrade, but Trump lacks the mental capacity for this. He is even struggling with English.”
Another noted, “Maybe he should have brought his 5 language speaking wife along to translate???”
Yet another X user wrote, “Trump’s remark dismissing the need to learn other languages is disappointing and shortsighted.”
“As a leader, fostering mutual respect and understanding across cultures is essential, especially in international summits,” she added. “This kind of rhetoric only divides rather than unites.”
“Latinos for Trump should be ashamed,” another wrote, adding, “What a disgrace he is. And the whole administration are a bunch of clowns.”
However, some MAGA supporters gave a different response to the president, with one writing, “He’s not learning their languages. He’s just saving their countries one by one. Making the world a better place.”
“That’s right, we speak English in America!” agreed another.
The meeting came after Kristi Noem lost her job as DHS Secretary and was named Special Envoy to the Shield of the Americas.
