Mark down the Dalai Lama as no fan of President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda.
On a week when Trump has been criticized from such quarters as the Republican chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and rapper Eminem, the Tibetan spiritual leader in exile said the principle guiding Trump policy toward the world sounds ‘not very nice’ to him.
‘Your ancestors really considered the importance of liberty, freedom, democracy, these things,’ the Dalai Lama told the Washington Post at a conference of supporters in India, where he lives in exile.
‘The present president, in the very beginning he mentioned ‘America first.’ That sounded in my ear not very nice.’
The Dalai Lama said the U.S. was becoming more ‘selfish, nationalist,’ and called out President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ policy
He said the U.S. was becoming more ‘selfish, nationalist,’ despite being ‘the leader of the free world.’
But he noted longstanding support for Tibet in the U.S. Congress, and said he believed it would continue.
He received a Congressional Gold Medal from Congress in 2007. It was given to him in a ceremony with President George W. Bush.
Like Pope Francis, who has also scolded Trump on climate change, the Dalai Lama rapped Trump on the environment. He has indicated the U.S. will likely pull out of the Paris climate deal, while his administration scrapped regulations meant to reduce power plant emissions.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during his meeting with former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., October 10, 2017
The Dalai Lama in Palermo during the visit to the city and to Sicily, southern Italy
DHARAMSALA, INDIA – OCTOBER 6: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama sits on his ceremonial chair as he prays before beginning a religious talk at the Tsuglakhang Temple on October 6, 2017 in Dharamsala, India
‘The present president is not much paying attention to ecology. So on that, I feel some reservation,’ the Dalai Lama said.
But showing his pragmatic streak, he said: ‘But anyway, the American people elected him, so I must respect [that].’
The longtime opponent of China’s crackdown on Tibetan rights urged conciliation.
‘Every problem on this planet, including our problem, must be solved with respect and mutually acceptable [solutions],’ he said, according to the Post.