In bizarre rant, Trump challenges ‘gremlin’ Abbas to gun fight

US President Donald Trump challenged Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to a colonial-era duel after Abbas “disrespected his honor.”

“Mahmoud has publicly disrespected my honor – bigly,” Trump said in a press conference on Wednesday. “He has told Ambassador [Nikki] Haley to shut up. That’s not very nice.”

Commonly practiced in the colonial-era United States among noblemen, gun duels required participants to stand a certain distance apart and shoot at one another with a pistol – sometimes with the intention to kill – to settle disputes after one party felt his honor was called into question.

Trump, who was a New York real estate mogul before becoming president, is not known for his marksmanship, but a senior White House official said the president is confident in his abilities. According to the official, Trump has instructed his aides to purchase a top-ofthe-line .357 Magnum and is taking the duel “very seriously.”

“I extended a hand. I want to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians,” Trump said in the press conference. “And this little gremlin spits in my face. Tremendous.”

Abbas himself has not responded to the challenge, but a Palestinian Authority spokesman referred to it as “deeply disturbing.”

The seventh president of the United States, Andrew Jackson, whom Trump has said he reveres, was a notorious dueler. The practice has been obsolete in the States since the early 20th century.