When presenting their book "The Divider" on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Tuesday, journalists Peter Baker and Susan Glasser shared examples concerning Donald Trump's alleged complete ignorance of global events and even geography.
The show's co-host Jonathan Lemire asked the guests about issues the former president supposedly had with world leaders, recalling Trump's much discussed face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as the former commander-in-chief's critique of NATO and even his purported consideration of leaving the bloc altogether.
In turn, the two authors shared a story about the former president's promise to hand over the West Bank, which has been under Israeli occupation for almost 60 years, to Jordan.
"We decided to do this book after he left office because there was more to learn," Baker admitted. "One was the great anecdote where apparently Trump calls up [former Treasury Secretary] Steve Mnuchin at the Davos conference when he's meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan and put him on the phone, and said, 'Hey king, I've got a great deal for you, I'm going to give you the West Bank.' And anybody who understands Jordan where the Palestinian population is sort of a restive force in politics there and understands that was not anything King Abdullah wanted."
Baker added that the king reportedly told an American friend, "I nearly had a heart attack, I doubled over, I couldn't breathe."
"It went to where Donald Trump's view of the world is very superficial and transactional - and he is simply going to give the king something the king has no interest in having," he claimed.
According to Baker, this purported incident "explains a lot about his foreign policy, which was very, very much built on the basis of someone who didn't spend a single day in office prior to becoming president and he had a lot to learn."
"He didn't know the difference between the Baltics and Balkans. One aide was saying he knew nothing about so many things, it was startling to them even after they spent time in his presence," he added.
Trump has repeatedly stressed the importance of allied relations with Israel and even approved the relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem, which caused a very strong reaction in the region. Traditionally, the US does not support Israel's policy of annexing territory in the West Bank.
However, Trump criticized former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for being one of the first to congratulate Joe Biden on his victory in the 2020 presidential election, viewing the move as disloyal.
According to a report from late last month, the former US president boasted about knowing some risqué details about the personal life of French President Emmanuel Macron, and that a dossier about him could be among the documents seized by the FBI at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in early August.