Washington: Donald Trump once left Narendra Modi flabbergasted when he told him that India and China didn't share a border.
A new book by two Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalists reveals the US president’s poor knowledge of geography. The 417-page book, A Very Stable Genius, written by Philip Rucker and Carol D Leonnig, details similar vivid incidents from Trump's tumultuous first three years as president, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
The book claims that Trump told Modi during a meeting, “It's not like you've got China on your border.”
The Washington Post report did not mention the year in which this conversation took place.
After Trump bungled his India-China geography, “Modi's eyes bulged out in surprise” and his “expression gradually shifted, from shock and concern to resignation”, the book says.
The two reporters were part of the team that won a 2018 Pulitzer Prize for its reporting on Trump and Russia.
The book quotes a Trump aide as saying Modi probably “left that meeting and said, ‘This is not a serious man. I cannot count on this man as a partner.’”
“After the meeting”, the aide told the authors, “the Indians took a step back in their diplomatic relations with the United States.”
Modi and Trump are said to have great personal rapport. They met four times in 2019, including once at the 'Howdy Modi!' event in Houston.
