Donald Trump cracked a joke about “not learning your damn language” to the leaders of Latin American countries attending his inaugural “Shield of the Americas” summit at his Doral Golf Club in Miami, Florida, this weekend.
The president had just said that Marco Rubio “loves going to your countries” and that, as a Spanish speaker, the secretary of state has “got a language advantage over me,” which is “because I’m not learning your damn language.”
Trump continued, “I don’t have time. I was OK with languages, but I’m not going to spend time learning your language. That much I won’t do.”
Trump, who was supposed to be talking about what he has described as a “counter-cartel coalition,” then launched into a lengthy tangent about the importance of having a good translator:
“Just give me a good interpreter. Interpreter very important. And I know if somebody’s good. 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 don’t speak the language, I could tell the interpreter was not good. 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 1/4 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. Interpreters are very important. You know, you have a bad interpreter. You think you’re doing well. ‘Boy, did I do a good job talking to this one or that? Was I great when I spoke to Putin today? Was I great when I spoke to President? Was I great?’ But if the interpreter isn’t speaking right or is weak or is ineffective or is just not good or not interpreting your words correctly. In one case we had an interpreter who when she disagreed with what we were saying she actually changed it. We considered her a foreign minister. Right? But no, the interpreter is, I talk about it all the time, interpreters are really important. When you don’t speak the language, they don’t speak the language. People have no idea. People have no idea how valuable and I’m on them all the time. People have no idea how valuable a good interpreter is.”
Later, Rubio asked Trump for permission to speak in Spanish, noting that “some of these cameras are covering Spanish.”
“We don’t need an interpreter for this one. I think I’m a good interpreter. You’ll find out in a second,” Rubio said, before speaking in Spanish about priorities, praising Trump and teasing future partnerships.
Trump then quipped, “Is he better in Spanish or in English? I think he’s better in Spanish? I mean, he’s great.”
Trump later called Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to the microphone.
“Mr. President, I only, I only speak American,” Hegseth joked, to a much more muted response in the room.
