SUMMARY
Trump’s continuous missteps have turned the role of the President, once considered the most powerful in the world, to a national embarrassment and international laughingstock.
- World leaders did not respect Trump when he appeared on global stage: laughing at him during UN address and talking about him behind his back at NATO summit
- Trump’s lack of decorum was apparent when he consistently acted of place of situations he was placed in: visiting victims of tragedy, talking to children, and discussing world leaders
- Trump said obviously untrue things like windmills caused cancer or US troops took over airports during the revolutionary war.
- Trump attacked lawmakers he disagreed with such as Sen. McCain and Rep. Dingell after their deaths, drawing criticisms from both sides of the aisle.
- Trump frequently mispronounced words and names, sometimes causing massive policy confusion because of his inability to read a teleprompter
¶ Mocked By Other World Leaders
¶ Trump Was Laughed At During 2018 Address To Un
Video Of Trump Getting Laughed At UN For Boasting No Administration Had Accomplished As Much As His. [YouTube, 9/25/18]
WaPo: Trump’s “Triumphant Moment Was Marred In The First Minute When He Was Met By Laughter.” According to The Washington Post, "But at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump got a comeuppance on the world’s biggest stage. Delivering a speech that aimed to establish U.S. “sovereignty” over the whims and needs of other nations, the president’s triumphant moment was marred in the first minute when he was met by laughter — at his expense. The embarrassing exchange came when Trump boasted that his administration had accomplished more over two years than ‘almost any administration’ in American history, eliciting audible guffaws in the cavernous chamber hall." [Washington Post, 9/25/18]
¶ 2019 Nato Summit Revealed World Leaders No Longer Respected Trump
Business Insider: Trump Was Embarrassed At 2019 NATO Summit Showing “Nobody Is Bothering TO Take Him Seriously Anymore.” According to Business Insider, “President Donald Trump entered the NATO summit triumphant, claiming credit for large structural changes in the alliance's defense spending. But his first day turned out to encompass one embarrassment after another, with multiple world leaders openly sparring with him and appearing to mock him behind his back — suggesting that nobody is bothering to take him seriously anymore.” [Business Insider, 12/4/19]
George Conway Called Trump “The Laughingstock Of The Planet.” According to tweet, "@realDonaldTrump, you are the laughingstock of the planet. The world thinks you are an incompetent, ignorant, dumb, deranged buffoon—and they are right. And you prove it to them every day." [Twitter, 12/3/19]
¶ Trudeau Mocked Trump Behind His Back To Other World Leaders
Video Of World Leaders Showed Trudeau Mocking Trump Behind His Back To Macron, Boris Johnson, Dutch PM Mark Rutte, And Princess Anne. According to Business Insider, “Trump appeared to be roundly mocked by world leaders and royalty behind his back. Though he did not mention Trump by name, Trudeau was recorded on video poking fun at what seemed to be Trump's impromptu 40-minute press conference, prompting laughter from a group that included Macron, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and Princess Anne.” [Business Insider, 12/4/19]
¶ Conservative Ally Boris Johnson Avoided Trump As Much As Possible
Boris Johnson Took Steps To Avoid Being Photographed With Trump Ahead Of Pivotal UK Elections In December 2019. According to Business Insider, “The British Conservative Party took great pains to distance Johnson from Trump while the two leaders were in the same vicinity, for fear that Trump would jeopardize its chances of winning the coming UK general election next week. (Trump did appear to honor this by saying on Tuesday morning that he had no comment on the election.) According to Politico's London Playbook, Johnson was ‘so keen not to be photographed with the US president that he did not even greet him at the door when he and wife Melania arrived’ at 10 Downing Street on Tuesday night. […] Johnson's refusal to be publicly seen with Trump also comes as a huge snub to the US president, who in October had endorsed him in the election.” [Business Insider, 12/4/19]
¶ General Lack Of Decorum
¶ Trump Demonstrated Lack Of Empathy When Visiting Victims Of Natural Disasters ANd Shooting Survivors
Trump Told A Homeowner Ravaged By Hurricane Florence In North Carolina Who Had A Washed Up Boat On His Front Yard: “At Least You Got A Nice Boat Out Of The Deal.” According to People, “As the death toll from Hurricane Florence grew to at least 37, President Donald Trump visited North Carolina on Wednesday and waxed positive about one survivor’s misfortune. While surveying the damage in the low-lying neighborhood of New Bern, North Carolina, the president came upon a yacht that had washed ashore into a resident’s backyard. ‘Is this your boat? Or . . . did it become your boat?’ Trump asked the man who lived in the house, according to pool reports. After the homeowner replied that no, it was not his boat, Trump reportedly said with a smile, ‘At least you got a nice boat out of the deal.” [People, 9/20/18]
Trump Was Recorded “Insensitively” Throwing Paper Towel Rolls Into Crowd Of Victims Of Hurricane Maria In Puerto Rico. According to The Washington Post, " The video clip has played on a repeating loop on cable news this week as Hurricane Florence closed in on the East Coast: President Trump casually tosses rolls of paper towels into a cheering crowd at a church in San Juan, Puerto Rico, after the island was devastated by Hurricane Maria a year ago. White House aides reacted at the time with a mix of grimaces and chuckles over what they saw as classic Trump — acting insensitively but, in his own way, playfully to offer amusement to locals who were happy to see him. A pool reporter that day called the scene ‘surreal’ and described Trump doing his ‘best Stephen Curry impersonation’ as he aimed the towels to the far reaches of the crowd, a performance ‘they enjoyed.’" [Washington Post, 9/13/18]
- Trump Was Reportedly Frustrated By Negative Coverage Of His Response To Hurricane Maria And Claimed They Were “Beautiful, Soft Towels. Very Good Towels.” According to Business Insider, “Trump has particularly been irritated by video footage of him throwing rolls of paper towels to a crowd of relief workers on the island, according to a Washington Post report published Thursday. Trump had characterized his gestures as good-natured, but the footage prompted accusations that Trump lacks empathy. ‘They had these beautiful, soft towels. Very good towels,’ Trump said during an interview with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in October. ‘And I came in and there was a crowd of a lot of people. And they were screaming and they were loving everything. I was having fun, they were having fun. They said, 'Throw 'em to me! Throw 'em to me Mr. President!'’” [Business Insider, 9/15/18]
Trump Had Cue Cards Reminding Him To Say “I Hear You” And Demonstrate Sympathy To Survivors Of School Shootings. According to The Guardian, “Briefing notes captured by photographers at US president Donald Trump’s White House listening session with survivors of gun violence show that he needed to be reminded to say ‘I hear you’. Close-up pictures of the note revealed that it had five points, of which the first was a reminder to ask the question: ‘What would you most want me to know about your experience’. The second question listed is: ‘What can we do to make you feel safe?’ […] But it is the final note – ‘I hear you’ – that has attracted the most criticism, with the implication that without a prompt the president would be unable to show sympathy towards those affected by school shootings, some of whom had travelled from Florida for the occasion.” [Guardian, 2/22/18]
- Cue Cards Photographed During Listening Session. [Guardian, 2/22/18]
¶
¶ Trump Was Preoccupied With Crowd Size From Start Of His Presidency
Trump And Team Fumed Over Small Inauguration Crowd And Offered “Alternative Facts” Suggesting The Crowd Was Bigger Than Reported. According to Politico, "President Donald Trump and his team are still fuming over evidence of a relatively small crowd for his inauguration, with his chief of staff claiming the reports are an effort to ‘de-legitimize’ Trump and another senior adviser explaining that the administration is offering ‘alternative facts.’ […] But much of the attention remained on the public fight over whether the size of Trump’s inaugural crowd truly paled in comparison to that of his predecessors. Aerial images and Metro ridership statistics indicate that significantly few people attended Trump’s inauguration on Friday, compared to former President Barack Obama’s ceremony in 2009." [Politico, 1/22/17]
Spicer Falsely Claimed It “Was The Largest Audience To Ever Witness An Inauguration, Period.” According to Politico, " Spicer has taken heat for his main claim that ‘this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe,’ while offering other inaccurate statements including that Trump's was the first inauguration in which white floor coverings were used on the mall. White floor coverings were used during Obama's second inauguration in 2013." [Politico, 1/22/17]
Trump Fixated On Inauguration Television Ratings And Lied About Relative Numbers Between Himself And Obama. According to Politico, "It wasn't just crowd size that Trump focused on during his third day as leader of the free world. He was also fixated on television ratings for his big day. In a third tweet on Sunday, he said, ‘Wow, television ratings just out: 31 million people watched the Inauguration, 11 million more than the very good ratings from 4 years ago!’ Trump’s assessment of the ratings was just slightly off. His inauguration received 30.6 million viewers, compared to 20.5 million for former President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2013. In 2009, however, Obama received nearly 38 million viewers for his first inauguration." [Politico, 1/22/17]
¶ Trump Bragged About Crowd Size During Inappropriate Moments
Trump Complained To Boy Scouts About How Press Would Lie About Crowd Size. According to Vox, “About 30,000 scouts showed up to the National Jamboree event, which happens every four years. Trump used that as the basis of an attack on the media he rolled out often during the campaign: that they’d underreport his crowds. ‘Boy, you have a lot of people here. The press will say it's about 200 people. It looks like about 45,000 people. You set a record today,’ Trump said at the beginning of his speech. He wasn’t done. Throughout the speech, he repeatedly accused the media of not accurately representing crowd size at this speech or others before it. As he did at many 2016 campaign rallies, Trump repeatedly commanded camera crews to pan over the entire crowd.” [Vox, 7/25/17]
Trump Bragged About Crowd Size Of His El Paso Rally While Visiting Victims Of El Paso Shooting In Hospital. According to CNN, “During a visit to the El Paso hospital treating victims of Saturday's mass shooting, President Donald Trump praised medical staff for their response to the shooting and said ‘they're talking about you all over the world.’ And then, he pivoted to talking about himself, talking up the crowd size that attended a rally he held in El Paso several months earlier and mocking the relatively small size of the crowd that joined presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, a former congressman, to protest the rally, according to cell phone video posted online. ‘I was here three months ago,’ Trump is seen telling a group of what appear to be first responders and other officials at University Medical Center in the video. ‘That place was packed. ... That was some crowd. And we had twice the number outside. And then you had this crazy Beto. Beto had like 400 people in a parking lot, they said his crowd was wonderful,’ he said.” [CNN, 8/8/19]
¶ Trump Pushed World Leaders To Get To Front Of Photo
Trump Shoved President Of Montenegro During NATO Photo Opp. [Youtube, 5/25/17]
¶ Trump Did Not Censor Himself When Speaking To Children
Trump Spoiled The Existence Of Santa Claus To A 7 Year Old Calling In To The Government “Santa Tracker.” According to USA Today, “President Donald Trump questioned a 7-year-old’s belief in Santa Claus, telling the child it was ‘marginal’ at that age to still think Father Christmas is real. ‘Are you still a believer in Santa?’ Trump said to a child calling in to the federal government's official ‘Santa Tracker,’ run by the North American Aerospace Defense Command. ‘Because at 7, it's marginal, right?’ Trump said.” [USA Today, 12/24/18]
Trump Told Boy Scouts About Party With “Hottest People In New York” He Went To Years Ago. According to Vox, “After talking about the importance of momentum to success, Trump started in on an anecdote about a developer who built a successful company, then sold it, then got bored in retirement: “He got bored with this life of yachts, and sailing, and all of the things he did in the South of France and other places. You won't get bored, right? You know, truthfully, you're workers. You'll get bored too, believe me.” And the developer bought back the company and failed badly, Trump said: “And I saw him at a cocktail party. And it was very sad because the hottest people in New York were at this party. It was the party of Steve Ross — Steve Ross, who was one of the great people. He came up and discovered, really founded Time Warner, and he was a great guy. He had a lot of successful people at the party. And I was doing well, so I got invited to the party. I was very young. And I go in, but I'm in the real estate business, and I see a hundred people, some of whom I recognize, and they're big in the entertainment business.” [Vox, 7/25/17]
¶ Trump Imitated Modi By Using Indian Accent
Trump Was Known To Imitate PM Modi By Taking With An Indian Accent. According to The Washington Post, "Senior administration officials said that the president has been known to affect an Indian accent and imitate Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who in an Oval Office meeting last year told him, ‘Never has a country given so much away for so little in return’ as the United States in Afghanistan." [Washington Post, 1/21/18]
¶ Trump Repeatedly Supported Dictators
¶ Trump Retweeted Mussolini Quote And Said It Was “A Very Interesting Quote”
Trump Retweeted A Mussolini Quote And Then Defended It Saying It Was “A Very Interesting Quote.” According to NBC News, “CHUCK TODD: And as you know, right now on Twitter, there is a trending retweet of yours, you retweeted somebody from Il Duce 2016, it was a Mussolini quote, but you didn't know it was Mussolini when you retweeted it, it said, ‘It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.’ That's a famous Mussolini quote, you retweeted it. Do you like the quote? Did you know it was Mussolini? DONALD TRUMP: Sure, it's okay to know it's Mussolini. Look, Mussolini was Mussolini. It's okay to-- it's a very good quote, it's a very interesting quote, and I know it. I saw it. I saw what-- and I know who said it. But what difference does it make whether it's Mussolini or somebody else? It's certainly a very interesting quote. That's probably why I have-- CHUCK TODD: Well, Mussolini is a known fascist. DONALD TRUMP: --between Facebook and Twitter, 14 million people when other people don't. CHUCK TODD: Do you want to be associated-- DONALD TRUMP: It's a very interesting quote, and people can talk about it. CHUCK TODD: Do you want to be associated with a fascist? DONALD TRUMP: No, I want to be associated with interesting quotes. And people, you know, I have almost 14 million people between Instagram and Facebook and Twitter and all of that. And we do interesting things. And I sent it out. And certainly, hey, it got your attention, didn't it?” [NBC News, 2/28/16]
¶ Demonstrated General Lack Of Knowledge
¶ Trump’s Anti Environmentalism Crusade Led To Absurd Comments
Trump Said California Needed To Rake Forest Floors To Prevent Forest Fires. According to The Washington Post, "We go through this every year; we can’t go through this,” Trump said Saturday as he toured the state’s massive wildfire zones. ‘We’re going to have safe forests.’ How to make California’s vast drought-stricken forests ‘safe’ after the Camp Fire grew to the size of Chicago this month, killing dozens if not hundreds of people and burning an entire town to the ground? Trump promised federal funds and says he has some ideas. One of those ideas is raking. ‘You’ve got to take care of the floors. You know the floors of the forests, it’s very important,’ Trump told reporters as he posed with California officials in the charred ruins of Paradise — his first stop on the tour. Trump went on to explain that the president of Finland, whom he met on an overseas trip a week earlier, told him about raking the forest floors. ‘He called it a forest nation,’ Trump said, ‘and they spent a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things, and they don’t have any problem.’” [Washington Post, 11/18/18]
Trump Said He Had To Flush A Toilet 10 Times Because Of Water Saving Regulations. According to NBC News, “Speaking at a campaign rally that night in Battle Creek, Michigan, Trump delivered a lengthy rant about a bevy of regulations governing bathroom and kitchen appliances.’ Sinks, right? Showers, and what goes with a sink and a shower?’ ’Toilets!’ the crowd chanted back. ‘Ten times, right, 10 times,’ Trump continued, referring to the number of flushes he claimed were sometimes required because of water-saving federal regulations. ‘Not me, of course not me. But you,’ he added while pointing to a random audience member.” [NBC News, 1/12/20]
¶ Trump Had Many Rambling Tirades Against Windmills
Trump Said Reliance On Wind Power Would Stop People From Being Able To Watch TV “When The Wind Stops Blowing.” According to The Guardian, “To laughter, Trump continued, mockingly: ‘No planes. No energy. When the wind stops blowing, that’s the end of your electric. ‘Let’s hurry up. Darling, darling, is the wind blowing today? I’d like to watch television, darling.’’” [Guardian, 3/2/19]
Trump Said Windmill Noise Could Cause Cancer. According to The Hill, "President Trump on Tuesday stepped up his attacks against wind power, claiming that the structures decrease property values and that the noise they emit causes cancer. ‘If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations, your house just went down 75 percent in value. And they say the noise causes cancer,’ the president said while delivering remarks at the National Republican Congressional Committee's annual spring dinner. He offered no evidence to support the claim." [Hill, 4/3/19]
Trump Said He “Never Underst[oo]d Wind” And Windmills Killed Birds And Created “Bird Graveyards.” According to White House Transcript, “We’ll have an economy based on wind. I never understood wind. You know, I know windmills very much. I’ve studied it better than anybody I know. It’s very expensive. […] So they make these things and then they put them up.And if you own a house within vision of some of these monsters, your house is worth 50 percent of the price.They’re noisy. They kill the birds. You want to see a bird graveyard? You just go. Take a look.A bird graveyard. Go under a windmill someday. You’ll see more birds than you’ve ever seen ever in your life.” [White House Transcript, 12/22/19]
¶ Trevor Noah Highlighted Trump Was Against Windmills Because They Made His Golf Courses Look Bad
Trevor Noah On How Trump’s Beef With Windmills Started With Protecting His Golf Courses. [Guardian, 4/2/19]
¶ Trump’s Comments To World Leaders Showed How Little He Prepared For Meetings With Other Leaders
Trump’s Ignorance Of Regional Rivalries Between Japan And Chinese Caused NSC Officials To Cringe As He Lauded President Xi In Front Of Japanese PM. According to Politico, "Trump at times also betrays an ignorance of regional history and rivalries. During a meeting with Abe at Mar-a-Lago in April, Trump repeatedly praised Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to a former NSC official from a prior administration. ‘Everyone was cringing because Japan and China are rivals, and the Japanese and the Chinese are nervous about the president tilting too far towards the other side,’ that person said. A White House official said Trump explained to Abe that his relationship with Xi would be useful in dealing with North Korea and insisted it ‘wasn’t considered a negative’ by the Japanese side." [Politico, 8/13/18]
Trump Congratulated Giuseppe Conte Who Was Appointed As A Compromise Candidate And Never Ran For His “Tremendous Victory.” According to Politico, "Giuseppe Conte never campaigned for office or ran in Italy's election, but that didn't stop U.S. President Donald Trump from congratulating him on his ‘tremendous victory.’ Trump's repeated references to Conte's victory were just a small part of a strange news conference at the White House on Monday, in which the American president seemed to enjoy the rare opportunity to appear alongside a world leader with even less diplomatic experience than him. Conte was actually appointed as a compromise candidate by the two parties that came out on top in the election, the anti-establishment 5Star Movement and the far-right League." [Politico, 7/30/18]
¶ Trump Stared At The Solar Eclipse
Trump Looked Into The Solar Eclipse Without Protective Glasses. According to CNN, “That's Donald John Trump on the White House South Portico, seemingly looking directly into the sun. At the peak of the solar eclipse. Without any sort of protective eyewear on. This, from the White House pool report of the moment filed by the Guardian's Ben Jacobs is, um, amazing: ‘At approximately 2:39, the President initially gesticulated to the crowd below and pointed at the sky. As he did so, one of the White House aides standing beneath the Blue Room Balcony shouted 'don't look.'” [CNN, 8/22/17]
¶ Trump Jumped Into A Truck At The White House Like A Child
Trump Climbed Into A Truck And Wore A “I <3 TRUCKS” Pin. According to Time, “President Donald Trump climbed into the cab of a Mack truck parked on the lawn Thursday to welcome trucking industry representatives to the White House. […] Trump wore a pin that said “I <3 TRUCKS” to the meeting.” [Time, 3/23/17]
Trump In Truck And Honking Horn At White House. [Twitter, 3/23/17]
¶ Trump Mistook Kansas For Missouri When Congratulating Chiefs For Superbowl Victory
Trump Tweeted And Deleted Congratulatory Tweet For The Kansas City Chiefs For Representing “The Great State Of Kansas” Even Though The Chiefs Are From Missouri. According to Vanity Fair, “’Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs on a great game, and a fantastic comeback, under immense pressure. You represented the Great State of Kansas and, in fact, the entire USA, so very well. Our Country is PROUD OF YOU!’ President Donald Trump tweeted on Sunday night after the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl. The problem? The team is based in Kansas City, Missouri. Oops! His initial tweet was deleted roughly 10 minutes later, when Trump reposted his note of congrats with the proper state identified. Still, the damage was done: ‘It’s Missouri you stone cold idiot,’ former Missouri senator Claire McCaskill tweeted in response to the president’s latest foolish gaffe.” [Vanity Fair, 2/4/20]
Late Night TV Hosts Read Into Trump For Mistakenly Saying Kansas City Chiefs Were From Kansas. According to Vanity Fair, “None of the country’s late-night hosts were quite as succinct or funny as McCaskill, but all took aim at Trump’s error on Monday night—even as Republicans and members of the conservative media tried to spin the president’s apparent difficulty with basic U.S. geography as galaxy-brain accuracy.” [Vanity Fair, 2/4/20]
¶ Trump Thought “Coyotes” Crossing The Border Were Animals
Trump May Have Believed “Coyotes” Crossing The Border Were Actually Animals. According to Vox, “President Donald Trump as part of his insistence on the border wall is arguing that it’s necessary to stop “believe it or not — coyotes.” So-called ‘coyotes’ are indeed a real issue at the border, but not, as Trump maybe believes, the actual animal. Trump on Thursday while signing the 2018 Farm Bill into law took some time to talk about border security and, specifically, the wall at the US-Mexico border. Trump is currently threatening a0 government shutdown if $5 billion for funding for the wall isn’t included in a stopgap funding bill passed by Congress. ‘A nation without borders is not a nation at all,’ Trump said. ‘Without borders, we have the reign of chaos, crime, and — believe it or not — coyotes.’” [Vox, 12/21/18]
¶ Trump Said American Troops Took Over Aiports During Revolutionary War, 100’s Of Years Before Airplanes Were Invented
Trump Said American Troops “Took Over The Airports” During Revolutionary War In Prime Time July 4th Speech. According to Time, “President Trump made a bit of a historical blunder during his Fourth of July “Salute to America” speech Thursday when he said that the Continental Army ‘took over the airports’ from the British during the American Revolutionary War in the 1770s.” [Time, 7/5/19]
¶ Trump Attacked Dead Political Rivals
¶ Trump Criticized John McCain After His Death
¶ Trump Attacked McCain And Family After Death
Trump Criticized McCain Family For Not Thanking Him For Giving The Late Senator A Funeral. According to NPR, “President Trump continues to pile on criticism of the late Sen. John McCain, complaining on Wednesday during a speech in Ohio that the Arizona senator's family never thanked him for the Vietnam War hero's funeral, which involved large ceremonies in Washington, D.C. ‘I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted, which as president I had to approve,’ Trump told a crowd at an Army tank manufacturing plant in Lima. ‘I don't care about this. I didn't get [a] thank you. That's OK. We sent him on the way, but I wasn't a fan of John McCain.’” [NPR, 3/20/19]
March 2019: Trump Said That By Spreading The Steele Dossier Was One Of Many Stains On McCain’s Legacy. According to tweet, " Spreading the fake and totally discredited Dossier ‘is unfortunately a very dark stain against John McCain.’ Ken Starr, Former Independent Counsel. He had far worse ‘stains’ than this, including thumbs down on repeal and replace after years of campaigning to repeal and replace!" [Twitter, 3/16/19]
Trump Continued To Attack McCain Posthumously Saying He Was “Horrible” And He Was “Not A Fan.” According to The Guardian, “’He was horrible,’ Trump said in an interview on Fox News on Friday, referring to McCain’s role in the defeat of legislation that would have repealed the Affordable Care Act. ‘I’m not a fan of John McCain and that’s fine.’” [Guardian, 3/22/19]
¶ Republican Senators Criticized Trump’s Attacks On War Hero McCain
Senator Isakson (R-GA) Called Trump’s Slights Towards McCain Were “Deplorable.” According to NPR, “Just hours before Trump's latest hits against McCain, Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said that the president's continued slights against the Navy veteran and his Vietnam War service are ‘deplorable’. ‘It will be deplorable seven months from now if he says it again. And I will continue to speak out, because there's one thing we've got to do — you may not like immigration, you may not like this, you may not like that, you may be a Republican, you may be a Democrat, but we're all Americans,’ Isakson said during an interview with Georgia Public Broadcasting's Political Rewind with Bill Nigut. […] ‘If my kids ever said John McCain was never a war hero...they'd have a serious conversation with me, and I would have it with them,’ Isakson told GPB.” [NPR, 3/20/19]
¶ Trump Refused To Lower Flag To Half-Staff To Honor McCain For Two Days
Following McCain’s Death Trump Took 2 Days Before Issuing Proclamation Of Praise And To Order The Flag TO Be Flown At Half-Staff. According to The New York Times, " President Trump, under enormous public and private pressure, finally issued a proclamation of praise for Mr. McCain on Monday afternoon, two days after the senator’s death, and ordered the flag to be flown at half-staff seemingly in the only place it wasn’t already, the presidential complex." [New York Times, 8/27/18]
¶ Veteran’s Groups Criticized Trump For Waiting So Long To Honor McCain
American Legion Among Others Criticized Trump For Not Issuing Statement Or Lowering Flags. According to The New York Times, " With the president’s attention elsewhere, the visual of the flag raised high at the White House made the rounds on social media, and prompted a statement from the American Legion, the nation’s largest wartime-veterans service organization. ‘On the behalf of the American Legion’s two million wartime veterans, I strongly urge you to make an appropriate presidential proclamation noting Senator McCain’s death and legacy of service to our nation, and that our nation’s flag be half-staffed through his interment,’ Denise Rohan, the national commander of the American Legion, wrote in a statement that one White House adviser said caught the president’s attention." [New York Times, 8/27/18]
¶ Trump Attacked Widow Debbie Dingell And Her Late Husband John Dingell
Trump Implied The Late Dingell Was “Looking Up” From Hell During Michigan Rally While Attacking Democratic Reps For Impeachment. According to CNN, “"Debbie Dingell, that's a real beauty," Trump said of the congresswoman, noting he was watching her on television during impeachment proceedings. Trump said that he gave the family the "A-plus treatment" after John Dingell died, and that the congresswoman, who now holds his seat in the House, told Trump during an emotional call following John Dingell's funeral that her husband would have been "thrilled" by the respect shown for him during his funeral and "he's looking down" on the ceremonies.
"Maybe he's looking up," Trump said, drawing some moans and groans from those in Battle Creek, Michigan, about two hours away from Debbie Dingell's district. "Maybe, but let's assume he's looking down."” [CNN, 12/18/19]
Trump Criticized Rep Debbie Dingell For Voting To Impeach Him And Made Fun Of Her For Crying While Thanking Him For Rolling Out The “Red Carpet” For Her Husband’s Funeral. According to tweet, " .@RepDebDingell, who called me, tears flowing, to thank me for rolling out the maximum “Red Carpet” for the funeral of her husband, then voted against me on the partisan Impeachmen Hoax, said “everybody (Dems) wants to get out of town. This has been, in my whole career, one of... ...the worst weeks ever.” She could have had a much better week if Crazy Nancy, who is the most overrated person in politics (going to lose the House a second time), didn’t bring the phony & corrupt Impeachment Hoax. Dems can’t do anything right, just look at the Iowa vote count!" [Twitter, 2/8/20]
¶ Lawmakers From Both Sides Of The Aisle Criticized Trump’s Attacks On Dingell
Debbie Dingell Called Trump’s Words “Hurtful.” According to The Daily Beast, “Dingell issued a heartbreaking response to Trump's jibe, writing on Twitter late Wednesday night: “I’m preparing for the first holiday season without the man I love. You brought me down in a way you can never imagine and your hurtful words just made my healing much harder.”” [Daily Beast, 12/19/19]
Rep Paul Mitchell (R-MI) Called Trump’s Comments “Dishonorable” And Requested Trump Apologize. According to The Hill, "Michigan GOP Rep. Paul Mitchell criticized President Trump on Thursday for his “dishonorable” attack on the late Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.). “John Dingell was a well-respected man & I consider Debbie a close colleague and friend. To use his name in such a dishonorable manner at last night’s rally is unacceptable from anyone, let alone the President of the United States,” Mitchell tweeted. “An apology is due, Mr. President.”" [Hill, 12/19/19]
Rep Fred Upton (R-MI) Called For Trump To Apologize For Comments. According to The Daily Beast, “Republican Congressman Fred Upton led the calls for an apology Wednesday night, saying on Twitter: “I’ve always looked up to John Dingell —my good friend and a great Michigan legend. There was no need to ‘dis’ him in a crass political way. Most unfortunate and an apology is due.”” [Daily Beast, 12/19/19]
¶ Mispronounced Words And Names
¶ Trump Sometimes Had Roundly Ridiculed Misspellings In His Tweets That Are Part Of The Official Record
¶ Covfefe
Trump Tweeted And Deleted A Nonsense Tweet With Typo “Covfefe.” According to USA Today, “Donald Trump has been active on Twitter since his return from his first overseas trip as president. And he kept the ball rolling with a tweet shortly after midnight on Wednesday morning. But it is not at all clear what the president was tweeting about. "Despite the negative press covfefe," Trump wrote, and nothing more. The tweet was deleted later Wednesday morning, but only after it had been up for several hours” [USA Today, 5/31/17]
The Typo Became A Trending Topic As Twitter Sounded Off Making Fun Of The President. According to USA Today, “Unsurprisingly, most of Trump's fellow Twitter users jumped all over the apparent mistake. #Covfefe quickly became a trending topic, and a quick check on GoDaddy revealed the domain name covfefe.com was already taken.” [USA Today, 5/31/17]
¶ Hamberders
Trump Tweeted And Deleted Tweet Saying He Paid For “1000 Hamberders.” According Vox, “On Tuesday morning, Trump tweeted that the number of burgers he purchased had grown again to ‘over 1000 hamberders [sic] etc.’ (He later reposted the tweet without the typo.)” [Vox, 1/15/19]
Burger King Made Fun Of Trump’s “Hamberders” Typo. According to The Hill, "The fast food chain Burger King took aim at President Trump on Tuesday over his mention of “’amberders’ in a recent tweet. ‘Due to a large order placed yesterday, we're all out of hamberders,’ the chain said in a tweet from its verified account on Tuesday morning. ‘Just serving hamburgers today.’" [Hill, 1/15/19]
Twitter Roundly Ridiculed Trump For The Typo. [Huffington Post, 1/15/19]
¶ Trump’s Twitter Feed Was Considered Official Presidential Communication
DOJ Argued Trump’s Twitter Feed Were “Official Statements Of The President Of The United States.” According to ABA Journal, “The Department of Justice on Monday told a federal district court judge In Washington, D.C. that Donald Trump’s tweets are ‘official statements of the President of the United States.’” [ABA Journal, 11/14/17]
Sean Spicer Said Trump’s Tweets Should Be “Considered Official Statements.” According to NBC News, “It's official — the president's tweets, that is. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday that Trump's tweets should be taken as official statements, contradicting other White House officials who have tamped down on the official nature of the tweets in recent days. ‘The president is president of the United States,’ Spicer said, ‘so they are considered official statements by the president of the United States.’” [NBC News, 6/6/17]
¶ Trump Notoriously Mispronounced Words
Trump Allegedly Mispronounced Nepal As “Nipple” And Bhutan As “Button” During Briefing. According to Politico, “Trump’s desire to call world leaders at awkward hours is just one of many previously unreported diplomatic faux pas Trump has made since assuming the presidency, which go beyond telephone etiquette to include misconceptions, mispronunciations and awkward meetings. Sometimes the foibles have been contained within the White House. In one case, Trump, while studying a briefer’s map of South Asia ahead of a 2017 meeting with India’s prime minister, mispronounced Nepal as ‘nipple’ and laughingly referred to Bhutan as ‘button,’ according to two sources with knowledge of the meeting.” [Politico, 8/13/18]
Trump Made Two References To “Nambia” When He Meant To Say Namibia When Speaking To African Leaders At The UN. According to The Washington Post, " As President Trump spoke to African leaders at the United Nations on Wednesday, he made not one but two references to a country called Nambia. ‘Nambia’s health system is increasingly self-sufficient,’ Trump said approvingly at one point. Unfortunately, there's a problem — good health care or not, Nambia doesn't exist. And so the U.S. president's laudatory comments about a nonexistent country swiftly invited ridicule online, with many suggesting that Trump had created an entirely new nation by combining two existing ones — Zambia and Namibia." [Washington Post, 9/21/17]
- White House Transcript Corrected Error, Indicating That The President Made A Mistake. According to The Washington Post, "A White House transcript of Trump's comments corrected his error, making clear that the president had not intended to invent a new nation and had, in fact, been referring to the very real country of Namibia, which is in southern Africa." [Washington Post, 9/21/17]
¶ The Daily Show Highlight Reel Of Trump’s Garbling Words And Mixing Up Names
“Trump’s Best Words: 2019 Edition.” [YouTube, 12/20/19]
“Trump’s Best Words: 2018 Edition.” [YouTube, 12/19/18]
“Trump’s Best Words: 2017 Edition.” [YouTube, 12/6/17]
Trump Plays “Name That Person.” [Twitter, 1/30/19]
¶ Trump Wrote Out A Never Before Seen Phonetic Spelling Of Al Qaeda
Trump Spelled Al Qaeda “Alcaida” On Personal Notes During Press Conference. According to Business Insider, “President Donald Trump on Monday falsely claimed that Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota has praised Al Qaeda. During his remarks he held notes that seemingly included the wrong spelling of the terror group's name: ‘Alcaida.’” [Business Insider, 7/15/19]
- Trump’s Notes Misspelling Al Qaeda “Alcaida.” [Twitter, 7/15/19]
¶ Trump Misread Teleprompter During Coronavirus Briefing Causing Widespread Confusion About Cargo Ban From Europe
Trump Announced Restrictions On Trade And Cargo Between U.S. And Europe In Oval Office Address. According to the New York Times’ transcript of Donald Trump’s Oval Office Address, “To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days. The new rules will go into effect Friday at midnight. These restrictions will be adjusted subject to conditions on the ground. There will be exemptions for Americans who have undergone appropriate screenings, and these prohibitions will not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo, but various other things as we get approval. Anything coming from Europe to the United States is what we are discussing. These restrictions will also not apply to the United Kingdom.” [NYT, 3/11/20]
¶ Trump’s Oval Office Announced Travel Restrictions With Europe Did Not Apply To Trade As He Had Said
Trump Travel Restrictions Did Not Apply To Cargo And Trade. According to Buzzfeed News, “2. The European travel restrictions actually DO NOT apply to cargo. […] The presidential proclamation doesn't mention anything about trade restrictions. In the proclamation, Trump says, ‘The free flow of commerce between the United States and the [affected European countries] remains an economic priority for the United States, and I remain committed to facilitating trade between our nations.’ After finishing his speech, Trump walked back his comment on trade, saying that it would not be affected by the restrictions.” [Buzzfeed News, 3/12/20]
Washington Post Speculated Trump Misread Teleprompter Saying Ban Applied Did “Not Apply To” Cargo As “Not Only Apply To” Cargo. According to The Washington Post, “’There will be exemptions for Americans who have undergone appropriate screenings,’ Trump said, ‘and these prohibitions will not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo but various other things as we get approval. Anything coming from Europe to the United States is what we are discussing.’ This wasn’t actually right. The administration wasn’t announcing a ban on cargo or trade. Dale speculates that perhaps Trump had seen ‘not apply to’ on the teleprompter, read it as ‘not only apply to’; and then had to append the ‘various other things’ to justify the use of ‘not only.’ That theory is bolstered by the inclusion of ‘tremendous.’ Trump’s speech was heavy on reminders of the health of the economy; pointedly exempting the ‘tremendous’ amount of trade with the European Union would send a signal that Trump was keeping economic concerns at the forefront.” [Washington Post, 3/12/20]