EXTRAORDINARY THINGS

Trump Goon Makes Baffling Pitch to Tourists About America

NATO Ambassador Matthew Whitaker named one way the U.S. was apparently “awesome.”

Eating fast food in the car while talking on the phone is one “extraordinary” experience that America has to offer to foreign visitors.

That’s what NATO Ambassador Matthew Whitaker suggested Thursday on Fox News as he explained what makes the United States an “awesome” place ahead of the country’s 250th anniversary. Rather than, say, talk up the country’s geography or diversity, Whitaker, 56, opted to praise Texas-based gas station and convenience store chain Buc-ee’s.

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On Fox and Friends, host Brian Kilmeade asked Whitaker about foreigners visiting the U.S. for the World Cup and the impressions they’ve had.

“What’s your take as you see them really enjoying our country, maybe things that we take for granted? What are your thoughts seeing that?” Kilmeade wondered.

Whitaker said how pleased he was that they were enjoying the “real America.”

“People are enjoying the United States of America because it’s an awesome place, and we have extraordinary things like Buc-ee’s, like Chick-fil-a, uh, you know, just some—very convenient to eat in your car as you’re, you know, doing, uh, having a phone call,“ Whitaker said.

“I mean, it’s—it’s an amazing country, and I’m glad that people are finally, uh, you know, kind of discovering what real America is,“ he continued. ”You know, being from Des Moines, Iowa, obviously, uh, I like it when they see places outside of New York and Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles."

Whitaker was promptly criticized online for hyping up the ability to simultaneously eat, talk, and drive on U.S. roadways.

“I know we live in a heavily car-dependent country, but framing the ability to eat rest-stop food in your car as a defining national triumph is incredibly bleak,” one commentator chimed in on X.

Another observer mocked Whitaker: “(Trying to talk up America): uh you can go to a kfc and call your mom from the parking lot.”

Others questioned why he didn’t use the opportunity to highlight the country’s national parks, or if they were somehow “less awesome” than eating fast food in a car.

Another critic argued that Whitaker had little choice but to talk about gas stations because he could not honestly make the claim that the U.S. was leading the field on important topics like its healthcare system and school safety.

“Why didn’t the ambassador use this opportunity to highlight America’s healthcare system, the cost of living, the generous paid time off/family leave policy or the safety of our public schools?” progressive activist Jordan Uhl wrote wryly on X.

Others joked that while the U.S. may have plenty of problems on its 250th anniversary, at least it has Buc-ee’s.

“As our nation’s 250th birthday approaches, I was reflecting on our alleged greatness and, I must admit, coming up a little short. Thankfully Whitaker set me straight,” writer Doug Henwood quipped on X.

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