The Dalai Lama said the United States is becoming more “selfish” and “nationalist” under Donald Trump's leadership.
The 82-year-old Buddhist monk said he was worried about Trump’s “America First” policy and the country’s position on global warming.
In an interview with
The Washington Post, he said: “Your ancestors really considered the importance of liberty, freedom, democracy, these things.
“The present President, in the very beginning he mentioned ‘America first.’ That sounded in my ear not very nice.”
He continued his criticism on the US’ policies on climate change: “The present President is not much paying attention to ecology. So on that, I feel some reservation.
“But anyway, the American people elected him, so I must respect [that].”
The Dalai Lama is not the first religious leader to criticise the US President’s policies, reports
The Independent UK.
Pope Francis has also criticised Trump regarding climate change, not helping migrants and the construction of border walls.
During the 2016 US presidential race, when Pope Francis visited Mexico, he told the reporters: “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.”
Trump retaliated by calling the Pope’s remarks “disgraceful” and adding: “If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS’s ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been President because this would not have happened.”