After several days of silence in the face of accusations from the opposition and critics in Tirana, Prime Minister Edi Rama published a photo with U.S. President Donald Trump, seeking to put an end to the doubts raised after his visit to the United States.
The photo was published after the political debate in Tirana
The debate began after Rama’s political opponents claimed that he had not held a meeting with Trump or with other senior leaders during his stay in the United States last weekend.
Four days later, on Thursday evening, Rama published a photo showing him together with Trump and his wife, Linda Rama, also using the post as a political response.
Rama uses irony over claims that the meeting never happened
In his public reaction, Rama chose an ironic tone toward those who questioned the meeting, writing that, since he had not been able to meet him, “I was forced to make it with AI.”
He further suggested that his critics risk once again appearing unreliable if the photo turns out to be authentic, turning the debate into a familiar political clash over public perception and not only over the facts of the visit.
Visit to the U.S. and participation at the UN
According to the official version, Rama was in the United States for a multi-day visit, where he took part in the proceedings of the United Nations General Assembly.
During this visit, he also held meetings with the Albanian community in different U.S. states.
The meeting with Trump amid claims of cooling relations
The publication of the photo comes at a time when the opposition has raised claims of cooling relations between the prime minister and the U.S. administration.
In this climate, the photo published by Rama is intended to serve as a political response to that narrative, although the debate in Tirana has been driven more by interpretations and attacks between the sides than by full institutional transparency about the schedule of meetings.
The prime minister’s post shifted attention from the visit itself to the usual battle over public perception, where a photo is used as political proof as much as a media message.
Beyond Rama’s irony, the controversy once again highlighted the way international meetings are turned into domestic political consumption, especially when official information is left in an information blackout for days on end.