President Trump met with Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela at the White House Monday, and, while making small talk and posing for photos Trump said:
“We’re going to spend quite a bit of time today. The Panama Canal is doing quite well, I think we did a good job building it. Right?”
Varela replied, “Yeah, 100 years ago.”
MSNBC’s Kyle Griffin immediately took Trump task on Twitter, and lib websites started mocking Trump and claiming he was “owned” by the Panamanian leader because of the response.
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
The judgmental liberal replies started immediately and covered a few topics. Some just thought Trump was dumb.
@realDonaldTrump how is it that you actually get dumber as each day passes?
— CAZWELL (@CAZWELLnyc) June 19, 2017
Or that he was taking credit for the canal’s existence.
https://twitter.com/taint_itch/status/876846333419716608
The hair-splitting is fierce when they want to find a way to slam Trump – they claim he’s also wrong because many of the laborers were not Americans.
Weren’t they also the muscle behind the French failure to build the canal?
— Hammy ✈ (@e2pilot) June 19, 2017
Heh. They don’t stop…
Exactly. It’s obvious tRump doesn’t take being POTUS. Hell he at least watch @drunkhistory or something. Damn smh
— JypSee Jynn (@JypseeJ) June 19, 2017
Some are just plain wrong.
Or have ever read a fifth grade social studies or history book
— 2BLACK2STRONG (@1BLKMOUNTAIN) June 19, 2017
Thx for laugh @realDonaldTrump you’re hysterical! It is always so enjoyable to watch you make a fool of yourself. You lost the handshake btw
— Calm….. (@insiyahbadri) June 19, 2017
I can’t listen to him anymore. This is just beyond sad that my 8 year old is smarter. Perhaps not sad, great for the future.
— M Davis (@IHateTrumpBigly) June 19, 2017
A man of historic ignorance.
— Joe Traina (@JoeTraina) June 19, 2017
OH NO! They rebuilt it?
…and one that Panama just rebuilt at tremendous cost. Go ahead, name another thing you know about Panama.
— Ray Suarez (@RaySuarezNews) June 19, 2017
Except, they didn’t rebuild it. They modernized it and added a third shipping lane. Yes, it cost a lot of money, but hell, so did the original one. Which was paid for by…
Oh, yeah. The United States! Is this guy requesting that we pay for the new one too?
The Canal was a US government project, funded with US dollars and engineered by Americans. Assets of a failed French attempt at canal building were purchased by President Theodore Roosevelt for $40 million, and the project took 10 years and $350 million to build. Many of the laborers, though, were from the West Indies.
One huge reason the project was successful was because the chief sanitation officer, William Gorgas, whose “highly effective sanitation measures eliminated the lethal or debilitating effects of yellow fever and malaria among workers.”
So not only did the US fund and engineer the canal and provide jobs for tens of thousands of laborers, a US doctor brought disease prevention methods to Panama that saved lives . Oh, and Panama also got an economically important piece of infrastructure.
You’re welcome.
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