While the knowledge of Trump’s foreign policy failures and callousness toward Africa has been spoken of behind the scenes for some time, it has now been put on display for the entire world to see. At the global AIDS 2026 conference in Brazil during the final week of July, the US posted a map showing six countries in Africa— each of which was misshapen, geographically mis-located and mislabeled, and otherwise looking as if it was drawn by an elementary-school student.
A screenshot of the insulting map first appeared in a Substack post by AIDS expert (and conference attendee) Emily Bass and was widely shared on LinkedIn, with Reuters noting that one post alone had gotten some 40,000 views. While the State Department quickly apologized for the blunders, unconvincingly blaming it on an overworked staffer for its inclusion (but never addressing who created the map in the first place), this is one genie which cannot be put back in the bottle.
