TOPLINE
Donald Trump mocked his successor, Joe Biden, for where he was seated during Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral on Monday, claiming it was a sign of the U.S.’ diminished stature on the world stage and insisting he would have been placed much farther forward if still in office.
Trump, in a series of posts on his Truth Social platform, mocked Biden for being seated in the fourteenth row of Westminster Abbey’s south transept, seven rows from the back.
The position—behind world leaders including Canada’s Justin Trudeau, New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern, Australia’s Anthony Albanese, France’s Emmanuel Macron and the EU’s Ursula von der Leyen—shows how far the U.S. has fallen on the world stage since he left office, Trump claimed.
The arrangement—dictated by strict royal protocol that ranks Commonwealth nations ahead of others attending—showed “no respect” to the U.S. but did offer Biden the chance to network with “leaders of certain third world countries,” Trump quipped.
It is not clear which “third world” leaders to which Trump was referring—the Bidens were seated next to the president of Switzerland, directly behind the president of Poland, in front of the Czech prime minister, across the aisle from the president of South Korea and in the same row as China’s representative, vice president Wang Qishan.
Trump, who was not invited to the event, insisted organizers would have sat him farther forward if he were still in office.