From praise to pokes, Trump offers unfiltered opinions on world leaders at Gaza summit

Full speech: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Gaza peace summit in Egypt, attended by dozens of world leaders, after the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.

U.S. President Donald Trump praised and poked fellow world leaders at the Gaza peace summit in Egypt on Monday.

The hastily-organized summit was attended by leaders and representatives from more than 20 countries, including Prime Minister Mark Carney. From glowing compliments to flippant kicks, Trump offered his unfiltered thoughts about his peers during a speech and handshake photo ops.

“I’ve known so many of you for so long, you’re friends of mine, you’re great people,” Trump told world leaders after the Gaza peace deal was signed. “I have a couple I don’t like in particular, but I won’t tell you who. I actually have a few of them I don’t like at all, but you’ll never find out who they are. Maybe you will, come to think of it.”

Here’s what the U.S. president had to say:

Canada’s ‘president’ Mark Carney

Trump thanked Carney for attending but mistakenly referred to him as Canada’s “president” during his remarks on Monday.

Approaching the podium to shake hands after Trump’s speech, Carney quipped, “I’m glad you upgraded me to president.”

“Oh, did I say (that)?” a grinning Trump retorted. “At least I didn’t say ‘governor.’”

Before Carney became prime minister, Trump repeatedly referred to his predecessor Justin Trudeau as “Governor Trudeau” while threatening to turn Canada into the 51st U.S. state.

Italy’s ‘beautiful’ prime minister

The only female world leader in attendance at the summit, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has enjoyed a warm relationship with her ideological ally in the White House. But when it came time to thank her for attending, Trump chose to focus more on her appearance than her conservative policies.

“She’s a beautiful young woman,” Trump said. “Now if you use the word ‘beautiful’ in the United States about a woman, that’s the end of your political career, but I’ll take my chances. Where is she? There she is. You don’t mind being called beautiful, right? Because you are.”

Standing just behind him, the 48-year-old prime minister offered Trump a broad smile.

“She wanted to be here and she’s incredible and they really respect her in Italy,” Trump added. “She’s a very successful, very successful politician.”

During the summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is an anti-tobacco advocate, also told Meloni that she looked “great” before urging her to quit smoking.

“The president’s Gaza summit turned into a self-styled coming out party, with Trump fashioning himself the prom king and other world leaders ‘members of his court,’” CTV News political analyst Eric Ham said.

“Never far from his tabloid and reality television roots, he rained down ridicule or praise as effortlessly as a long-past-his-prime sports jock, yearning for the glory days that never were, all the while being passive-aggressive in denoting the pecking order of his peers in the Trump-verse.”

More kicks and compliments

When Trump mentioned Norway’s presence at the summit, perhaps he was still smarting for not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year.

“Oh Norway, aye yay yay Norway. What happened Norway? What happened? Where’s Norway?” Trump said from a podium while flanked by other world leaders. “I don’t think he wants to stand – oh, he’s back there. We have Norway.”

Spain was quickly chided for failing to meet NATO’s defence spending target before Trump said “we’ll get close.”

Standing prominently to Trump’s left, United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer raised his hand when Trump asked where his “friend” from the U.K. was.

“Right behind you, as usual,” Starmer replied before stepping forward for a handshake.

Starmer looked as though he was about to speak into the microphone before Trump stepped in front of him to continue delivering his remarks.

Like the leaders of Spain and Norway, French President Emmanuel Macron also chose to remain seated in the audience as Trump spoke on Monday.

“I would imagine Emmanuel standing some place behind me,” Trump said of France’s leader. “I can’t believe it, you’re taking a low-key approach today. He’s my friend.”

Like some of his presidential predecessors, Trump also had oil on his mind when discussing Iraq.

“They have so much oil they don’t know what to do with it,” Trump said. “That’s a big problem when you have so much you have no idea what to do with it.”

Praise for autocrats and strongmen

In Trump’s speech, he described summit co-chair and Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as a “great” general and president.

Meanwhile, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, was introduced as a “fantastically respected man” and “a friend of mine for a long time, long before politics.”

Erdoğan was also praised for being “such a tough guy.”

“He’s always there when I need him,” Trump said. “He is tough as you can be, but we love him … We just have a good relationship, but we have from the beginning.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was similarly hailed as “a great leader.”

“We love Viktor,” Trump said. “I know a lot of people don’t agree with me, but I’m the only one that matters. You are fantastic.”

Turning his attention to Saudi Arabia, Trump described the country’s representative, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, as “really fantastic.”

“He always gets the best seat – he deserves the best seat,” Trump told the country’s foreign minister, who sat in the audience. “What a great place it is.”

Saudia Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who did not attend, was also described as a “special friend of mine.”

India was mentioned as “a great country” with a “very good friend of mine at the top.”

After receiving yet another positive introduction, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was able to return the compliments by calling Trump “genuinely a man of peace” who deserves to win the Nobel Peace Prize for, according to Sharif, ending a brief and bloody conflict between his country and India.

During a photo op, Trump complimented United Arab Emirates Vice-President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al on his “lovely shoes.”

“A lot of cash,” Trump added, pointing at the beaming Sheikh. “Bundles of cash.”