New Zealand Diplomat Fired for Speaking Truth About Trump
A prominent diplomat lost his job because of a comment about Trump. He said out loud what most of us have known for years: Trump doesn’t know much about history. His world is centered on himself and his giant ego. Whenever he refers to events that preceded his own life, he draws a blank. One […]
A prominent diplomat lost his job because of a comment about Trump. He said out loud what most of us have known for years: Trump doesn’t know much about history. His world is centered on himself and his giant ego. Whenever he refers to events that preceded his own life, he draws a blank. One well-known example was his reference to famed 19th century abolitionist Frederick Douglass as “an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more.” It was obvious that he had no idea who Douglass was. What made it even more embarrassing was that he was speaking to his African-American supporters at a breakfast honoring Black History month. They knew who Frederick Douglass was.
New Zealand has fired its most senior envoy to the United Kingdom over remarks that questioned US President Donald Trump’s grasp of history.
At an event in London on Tuesday, High Commissioner Phil Goff compared efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine to the 1938 Munich Agreement, which allowed Adolf Hitler to annex part of Czechoslovakia.
Mr Goff recalled how Sir Winston Churchill had criticised the agreement, then said of the US leader: “President Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office. But do you think he really understands history?”
His comments were “deeply disappointing” and made his position “untenable”, New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said.
His comments came after Trump paused military aid to Kyiv following a heated exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office last week.
He contrasted Trump with Churchill who, while estranged from the British government, spoke against the Munich Agreement as he saw it as a surrender to Nazi Germany’s threats.
Mr Goff quoted how Churchill had rebuked then UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain: “You had the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, yet you will have war.”
Peters said Mr Goff’s views did not represent those of the New Zealand government…
Former Prime Minister Helen Clark was among those who criticised Mr Goff’s sacking, saying it was backed by a “very thin excuse”.
“I have been at Munich Security Conference recently where many draw parallels between Munich 1938 and US actions now,” she wrote in a post on X.
Under the 1938 Munich Agreement, Hitler took control of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland. The deal failed to stop Nazi Germany from advancing deeper into Europe and World War Two began when he invaded Poland in 1939.
