When Obama and family got off AF One in Cuba, he was met by the Cuban Foreign Minister (FM):
That led to comments like this:
Obama doesn’t really take his responsibility as POTUS seriously. He obviously doesn’t respect the office and thus is indifferent to insults to the office.
And Trump tweeted:
Calm down Foxtards! Hereâs what you need to know:
In the US, a foreign head of state or head of government is formally welcomed by the president on the South Lawn of the White House. You can check out our State Department’s process here.
In Cuba it is similar:
- President Putin was greeted at the airport, by the Cuban FM.
- President Chavez of Venezuela was greeted at the airport, by the Cuban FM.
- President Ortega of Nicaragua was greeted at the airport, by the Cuban FM.
- President Xi of China was greeted at the airport, by the Cuban FM.
- Back in the day, President Khrushchev of Russia was greeted at the airport by, you guessed it, the Cuban FM.
So, how is Obama being greeted at the airport by the Cuban FM, an “insult”?
BTW, both Obama in DC and Castro in Cuba greeted Pope Francis at the airport when he visited, so Trump was half-right. Castro did go to the airport once.
