President Trump recently hosted the inaugural meeting of his new Board of Peace in Washington. The gathering quickly veered off-script when President Trump made some rather personal comments, particularly about the looks of world leaders in attendance, as reported by NDTV.
This Board of Peace, which President Trump established in September, is primarily focused on Gaza reconstruction. However, he’s definitely hoping it’ll grow into a major global body for conflict resolution. Critics, though, aren’t so sure, suggesting it might just get in the way of the United Nations’ existing work. Interestingly, several key US allies decided not to join this initial meeting. President Trump had a direct message for those who skipped out, stating, “You can’t play cute with me.”
President Trump was in a very convivial mood, greeting the world leaders with plenty of fanfare and personal flattery. While he’s known for his good-cop-bad-cop routine in past interactions, this time, it was all praise, with no mention of the human rights records of some of the attendees. The tone was literally set by the soundtrack of James Brown’s 1966 song, “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” which blared overhead as leaders gathered for a group photo.
It took about 25 minutes into his welcome speech before President Trump even touched on the Middle East conflict
Instead, he spent that time complimenting the various world leaders seated on stage with him, openly rating them on their looks, wealth, and strength. FIFA President Gianni Infantino was also among those present, and several leaders even had red MAGA hats in front of them on the table.
He singled out Paraguay’s President Santiago Pena, a 47-year-old leader, commenting, “Young handsome guy. It’s always nice to be young and handsome. Doesn’t mean we have to like you. I don’t like young, handsome men. Women I like. Men, I don’t have any interest.” Despite that last statement, his interest in the male physique seemed pretty clear. At another point, he told the crowd to check out the “tough” face of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.
President Trump also shared some stories where he painted himself as the one who coerced leaders into doing exactly what he wanted. He recounted how he supposedly used tariff threats to pressure countries like India and Pakistan into ending conflicts. India, however, has firmly rejected this assertion, saying it didn’t happen that way.
Looking ahead, President Trump suggested his new board could even surpass the United Nations in prominence. He said, “The Board of Peace is going to almost be looking over the United Nations… they need help.” He then took a detour to recall an incident last year when he and First Lady Melania Trump got stuck on an escalator at the UN headquarters in New York. “I was lucky my movie-star first lady was in front of me, because I put my hand on a certain part of her body,” President Trump shared about the escalator mishap.
Throughout his speech, President Trump used the term “beautiful” at least 14 times, praising both his administration’s work and the event space itself. It turns out the US Institute of Peace, where the event was held, had been renamed in his honor. President Trump mentioned that Secretary of State Marco Rubio came up with the “surprise” renaming. President Trump also added, “I didn’t know the surprise. I thought maybe they were going to give me a lot of money or something, maybe cash.”
Published: Feb 20, 2026 01:00 pm