In the 19th century, the geographer and explorer David Livingstone was scathing of what he described as ‘easy chair geographers’ – authors and mapmakers who produced maps and treatises about the non-European world without ever leaving their learned society or personal office.

Donald Trump is a latter-day armchair geographer. Or judging by photographs repeatedly released by the White House, a president comfortable convening meetings in the Oval Office with large maps displayed by his desk.

But whether it is a case of acquiring Greenland or blockading the Strait of Hormuz, maps can be poor substitutes for in-field knowledge and understanding. Blockading seven Iranian ports stretching over several hundred miles of coastline is a tall order, as is distinguishing, tracking, communicating and boarding vessels suspected of being connected to Iranian ports and interests. 

Since returning to the White House, the president has shown considerable appetite for using executive orders to rename geographical places with the aim of glorifying the United States. As soon as he took office in January last year, Trump used an executive order to revert to using ‘Mount Mckindley’ – rather than Mount Denali – as the name for the highest peak in Alaska. Notably that February, he admitted that he was moved by a map depicting the ‘Gulf of America’. As he told assembled reporters:

Trump is a careless geographer with a poor understanding of international borders

Trump is a careless geographer with a poor understanding of international borders

I’m just admiring it as I look at it. I’m getting teary-eyed – but I don’t want you to say, ‘Trump broke down and started crying.’

I’m just admiring it as I look at it. I’m getting........

© The Spectator