It’s often been noticed that Donald Trump has great admiration for foreign dictators. On Thursday, he took that a step further during a public Oval Office meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan.
“It’s a pleasure to be with President Erdoğan of Turkey, and we’ve been friends for a long time, actually, even for four years when I was in exile unfairly, as it turns out, rigged elections, you know,” Trump said, as the visiting Erdoğan sat beside him.
“He knows about rigged elections better than anybody, but when I was in exile, we were still friends.”
Trump to Erdogan: “He knows about rigged elections better than anybody. But when I was in exile, we were still friends.” pic.twitter.com/GUWD3jGmKP
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 25, 2025
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Erdoğan did not appear to laugh at the “joke.”
In the meeting, per The BBC, Trump planned to implore his Turkish counterpart to stop buying oil from Russia.
“The atmosphere was markedly less tense that Erdogan’s previous visit in 2019, which followed a significant political fallout between the countries over the situation in Syria – now a topic on which the two leaders are more aligned,” The BBC reported of the meeting.
“Today, the US president dominated the conversation with the press – telling reporters the pair will be talking of tariffs, a Ukraine ceasefire and that Erdogan may be “successful” with regards the sale of F-35 and F-16 jets.”
There were some amused reactions to Trump’s “rigged elections” joke.
Classic Trump—praising Erdogan while bragging about his own exile and ‘friendships.’ Using dictators as props for political narratives is reckless, tone-deaf, and exposes his willingness to normalize authoritarianism for attention.
— Selena Maris (@ItsSelenaMaris) September 25, 2025
🚨BREAKING: Trump defends Turkey’s Erdogan — a quasi-dictator who rigged his own election — and points at him saying: “he knows about rigged elections better than anybody.”
Another strongman Trump can’t wait to worship.
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) September 25, 2025
President Trump is thrilled with Turkish Prince Erdogan’s gift of a workable toy escalator. pic.twitter.com/8BXyiS7r1O
— Gary Peterson 🇺🇸 (@GaryPetersonUSA) September 25, 2025
People are sleeping on the part of this where Trump says Erdogan wasn’t a fake friend because he had his back even when he was “exiled” lmao https://t.co/PEM8Nhw35v
— Armand Domalewski (@ArmandDoma) September 25, 2025
Photo courtesy of an X screenshot.
