Trump claims he 'met with the president of the Virgin Islands.' That's him.
Donald Trump is the president of the United States and all its territories, including Puerto Rico, Guam, and American Samoa. Another territory that Trump presides over is an island chain handily named "the United States Virgin Islands," lest anyone forgets to whom it belongs.
Still, it seems that fact can nevertheless slip one's mind on occasion. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, for example, was corrected Thursday for calling the U.S. Virgin Islands its own country, The Washington Post reports. ("It's America," Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) told Perry. "They're American citizens, so it's not a country.")
Then on Friday, Trump told attendees of the 2017 Value Voters summit: "I met with the president of the Virgin Islands." As mentioned above, Trump is the president of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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Trump has been known to refer to himself in the third person, so there is perhaps a chance this is just his latest extremely odd turn of phrase. Otherwise, Trump is talking about his meeting with Kenneth Mapp — the governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Jeva Lange
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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