Why does Pompeo have an unlabeled world map lying around his office?

[Recursion]

Among the many things that bug me about his meltdown with the NPR reporter, that one keeps coming back. Why the hell did he have a map with no country names on it lying around his office? Does he just randomly quiz people about country names?

[samnsara]

1. for trump to color in or to divide up and conquer the world?

[C_U_L8R]

2. Where does one even get an unlabeled world map?

nevermind. just googled it.

[napi21]

5. If you can bill the Gov't he p robably zhad it custom made, just for him! n/t

[Midnight Writer]

8. Yes, you can bet damn well that we the taxpayers shelled out the dough for his prop.

[Recursion]

9. State has a cartography office

It's got some really, really good cartographers and GIS techs in it. I'm really curious how they'd react to that request.

[Igel]

11. Or they downloaded one of the scores of

options for unlabeled world maps available online.

They're a staple of geography teachers, from middle school through high school.

It's even more fun to hand one out with borders and say, "label the countries." Without the boxes to fill in students leave out entire countries like France or Brazil--we're not just talking Montenegro or Andorra. Or more embarrassingly they'll put countries on the wrong continent, or think Russia extends west of the Elbe.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

3. This is the first thing I thought when I saw the story.

[UniteFightBack]

18. +1000 nt

[LakeArenal]

4. Gotcha questions to deflect reporter's questions.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. I don't think I've ever even seen an unlabeled map except in a geography test.

It does seem odd that he'd have one lying around, unless they were using it to quiz Trump.

"OK, Mr. President, now show me where France is."

"There." (points to Finland)

"No, sir, that's actually Finland."

"I went to Finland, didn't I? It's right next to France. I went there, too. Write "France" where I pointed."

"But that's Finland."

"It's France. I know because I went there."

(Pompeo writes "France" on Finland.)

[RestoreAmerica2020]

13. Ha ha...

[OAITW r.2.0]

7. Perhaps Putin/Trump are rearranging the new world boundries for each client state. nt

[Igel]

10. The report says he didn't have one in his office at first, but asked that one be brought.

Specifically in order to quiz the journalist.

[Recursion]

21. That's almost more weird (nt)

[NoMoreRepugs]

12. If only the journalist had asked little MikeyP

if he could find Iraq on the same map.... my guess is 50-50 chance he could.

[keithbvadu2]

14. Wouldn't it be fun to watch Trump do it?

Wouldn't it be fun to watch Trump do it?

[Fragment]

26. Hah!

A New Yorker cartoonist already imagined Trump’s map a couple of years ago:

https://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/daily-cartoon/friday-january-12th-trumpworld-map

[keithbvadu2]

32. Surely Dotard could find Nambia.

Surely Dotard could find Nambia.

[JonLP24]

15. Ukraine is one of the easiest countries to find on a map because of Crimea

which sits atop the Black Sea.

[UniteFightBack]

19. Chris Matthews said it's well known that the NPR reporters are no slouches. This woman is a Yale

graduate or equivalent and he also said she went to Cambridge for Euro studies so to ask her to find Ukraine on a map is laughable.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

25. And it's quite large and next to Russia.

[Maraya1969]

16. Because he doesn't know his countries. He thought Ukraine was Bangladesh.

What a fucking idiot.

[UniteFightBack]

20. Or he's just a NAKED LIAR like his liege. nt

[jcgoldie]

17. He teaches middle school geography in his spare time

Whatta guy!

[SWBTATTReg]

22. Sounds like pompeo had planned this whole thing w/ the NPR reporter...all planned and of...

course his plan failed miserably. The NPR reporter is not one of pompeo's uneducated peons.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

24. She has a masters' degree in European history from Cambridge.

I'm pretty sure she can find Ukraine on an unlabeled map and would not confuse it with Bangladesh.

[SWBTATTReg]

27. You are absolutely right. And I bet either rump or pompeo couldn't find either Bangladesh...

or Ukraine on a map...if they did, either of them, I'd be surprised. It's pathetic that our so called national leaders have descended to such a state. And rump is a so called billionaire? Yeah, right.

Take care of yourself!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. See #6.

[GeorgeGist]

23. Because he's an asshole.

[applegrove]

29. He probably went to the trouble of pulling one up on the internet.

[underpants]

30. Someone gave it to him as a test. He couldn't complete it.

My wife's joke.

[alphafemale]

31. He clearly never watched "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego"

That was a brilliant show that made geography fun for kids.

[live love laugh]

33. Because he thinks everybody is as stupid as RepubLIEclowns 🤡