Politics

Top Trump gaffes: A laugh-out-loud look at his most memorable slip-ups

Donald Trump mocks Joe Biden for his gaffes, but Trump stumbles a lot on the campaign trail.
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Donald Trump
Donald Trump Photo: Screenshot

Former President Donald Trump’s numerous verbal gaffes on the 2024 presidential campaign trail seem to undercut his argument that President Joe Biden is too old and cognitively impaired to lead the country. In reality, Trump and Biden are close in age — Trump is 77 and Biden is 81 — and both men have had plenty of verbal slip-ups during their public speeches, just as many politicians do. But various political polling has shown that majorities of Democratic and Republican voters both consider Trump and Biden too old to be president.

Unlike Biden, Trump and his campaign often claim that Trump’s verbal mistakes are intentional and a reflection that he’s not a “career politician” like those that Trump often scorns. Despite this, Trump’s gaffes have gotten him much criticism, including from his Republican political opponents: former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has said that intense political pressure “is starting to get to him,” former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said that he should take a “mental competency test,” and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said, “This is a different Donald Trump than 2015 and ’16 — lost the zip on his fastball.”

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September 18, 2023: Trump says Biden will start “World War II”

Trump spoke at the Pray, Vote, Stand Summit, organized by the anti-LGBTQ+ hate group the Family Research Council.

During his speech, Trump alluded to President Biden, saying, “We have a man who is totally corrupt and the worst president in the history of our country, who is cognitively impaired, in no condition to lead, and is now in charge of dealing with Russia and possible nuclear war. Just think of it, we would be in World War II very quickly if we’re going to be relying on this man.”

World War II began on September 1, 1939 and ended on September 2, 1945.

September 25, 2023: Trump confuses George Bush for Jeb Bush

During a rally in Summerville, South Carolina, Trump confused Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida, with his brother George W. Bush, the former president.

“When I came here, everyone thought Bush was going to win,” Trump said, referring to Jeb Bush’s unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign.

“They thought Bush because Bush supposedly was a military person… he got us into the, uh, he got us into the Middle East. How did that work out, right?” Trump continued, referring to President Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq. The 2003 Iraq invasion was based on the falsehood that Iraq’s leader had weapons of mass destruction. The invasion resulted in the deaths of an estimated 315,190 Iraqi civilians and 32,292 U.S. military members, according to the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs.

During the 2016 Republican presidential primary, Trump referred to Jeb Bush as “weak,” “sad and pathetic,” “a spoiled child,” “low energy,” “not a man,” and “an embarrassment to his family.” Jeb Bush said Trump lacked presidential character in 2016 and didn’t endorse him in 2020.

October 23, 2023: Trump mixes up Hungary with Turkey

While speaking in New Hampshire about the numerous global conflicts taking place during Biden’s tenure, Trump mistakenly referred to Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, as the “leader of Turkey.”

“I was very honored, there’s a man, Viktor Orbán,” Trump said in New Hampshire. “He’s probably, like, one of the strongest leaders anywhere in the world. Right? He’s the leader of Turkey.” Turkey’s president is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Trump also incorrectly said that Hungary shares a “front” with Russia, but neither Hungary nor Turkey borders Russia.

Orbán endorsed Trump’s first 2016 presidential run early on, celebrated Trump’s win, and then supported Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign. Trump also invited Orbán to the White House in May 2019, something that a Hungarian Prime Minister hadn’t done since 1989. Trump, Orbán, and Erdoğan are all very anti-LGBTQ. American conservatives have repeatedly praised Orbán, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, for his anti-LGBTQ+, anti-immigrant and anti-democratic politics.

October 29, 2023: Trump refers to Sioux City, Iowa as “Sioux Falls”

While speaking to a crowd in Sioux City, Iowa, Trump offered “a very big hello to a place where we’ve done very well: Sioux Falls,” adding, “Thank you very much, Sioux Falls.” Some crowd members cheered Trump’s comment while others booed. Sioux Falls is in South Dakota, 86 miles north of Sioux City.

Iowa state Sen. Bradley Zaun (R) came on stage and briefly whispered the city’s correct name to Trump. Immediately after, Trump returned to the microphone, asking, “So, Sioux City, let me ask you: How many people come from Sioux City?” Some audience members laughed and others cheered.

In 2016, Trump won the state with 51.15% of the vote. In 2020, Trump won the state with 53.1%.

November 8, 2023: Trump mixes up China and North Korea

During a rally in Florida, Trump erroneously said, “[North Korean Supreme Leader] Kim Jong Un leads 1.4 billion people, and there is no doubt about who the boss is — and they want me to say he’s not an intelligent man.” While China has a population of 1.4 billion people, North Korea’s population is only 26 million.

During Trump’s historic June 12, 2018 meeting with Kim, Trump didn’t say anything about the country’s human rights abuses. North Korean law doesn’t seem to explicitly mention LGBTQ+ people, but one defector from the country said that its citizens have no concept of homosexuality or transgender identities. There are 130,000 people in concentration camps in North Korea.

At the Florida rally, Trump accused the “fake news” of getting “very upset” whenever he praises dictators. His past 2024 presidential primary opponent, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (U.N.) Nikki Haley, created homoerotic Valentine’s cards that quoted Trump’s praise of various dictators around the world.

January 19, 2024: Trump confuses Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi

During his speech in Concord, New Hampshire, Trump seemingly confused his Republican primary political opponent, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

“Nikki Haley, you know they, do you know they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, everything, deleted and destroyed all of it. All of it, because of lots of things, like Nikki Haley is in charge of security. We offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, National Guard, whatever they want. They turned it down. They don’t want to talk about that. These are very dishonest people,” Trump said.

It’s unclear what Trump was referring to in regards to destroyed evidence, but he had previously accused Pelosi of turning down 10,000 soldiers to help protect the Capitol from an attempted insurrection by his followers on January 6, 2021. Trump’s claim about Pelosi’s refusal of the troops is untrue.

Trump later claimed to confuse Haley with Pelosi deliberately, saying, “When I interpose, because I’m not a Nikki fan and I’m not a Pelosi fan, and when I purposely interposed names, they said, ‘He didn’t know Pelosi from Nikki, from Tricky Nikki. Tricky Dicky. He didn’t know.”

February 17, 2024: Trump gives Michigan voters the wrong election date

When speaking at a rally in Waterford, Michigan, Trump told attendees, “We need you to get out and vote to set the stage for November. Go vote: November 27. Remember this: It’s a date that’s very important.” The state’s primary election was on February 27.

In the state’s primary, Trump won 68.1% of the vote, but Haley won 26.6% of the vote. Some of Haley’s supporters have continued to vote for her in successive state primaries, suggesting that they may not support Trump in the November general election.

February 24, 2024: Trump endorses Joe Biden for president

During his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, Trump said that he agreed with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assertion that he’d rather see Joe Biden as president.

“He did announce the other day that he’d much rather see Biden as president, and I agree with him,” Trump said. Later in the speech, Trump referred to Biden as “crooked Joe,” implying unproven allegations of corruption.

Putin made his comment about Biden around February 15, saying, “Biden, he’s more experienced, more predictable, he’s a politician of the old formation. But we will work with any U.S. leader whom the American people trust.” Trump called Putin’s comment a “compliment,” suggesting that he would present more of a challenge to Putin’s leadership. However, Trump’s past international policies have largely allowed Putin to act without any U.S. pushback.

When the Biden administration was asked about Putin’s comment, national security spokesman John Kirby responded, “I think Mr. Putin knows very well what this administration has been doing to counter Russia’s malign influence around the world. Mr. Putin should just stay out of our elections.”

February 24, 2024: Trump allegedly refers to his wife Melania as “Mercedes”

Numerous media outlets and late night talk show hosts reported that, during Trump’s CPAC speech, he mistakenly referred to his wife Melania Trump as “Mercedes.”

“She was a great first lady, people love her,” Trump said. The crowd cheered and gave the former president a standing ovation. Trump responded, “Oh look at that, wow.” He then looked to his left and said, “Mercedes, that’s pretty good.”

However, the fact-checking website PolitiFact concluded that Donald Trump was talking to Mercedes Schlapp, his former White House strategic communications director and wife of disgraced CPAC chair Matt Schlapp. It’s unclear if Melania Trump attended CPAC.

February 29, 2024: Trump says immigrants don’t speak languages

Trump visited Eagle Pass, Texas, a town near the U.S./Mexico border. There, Trump stood alongside Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) while delivering an anti-immigrant speech attacking President Biden’s border policies. Biden also visited the southern border on the same day and slammed Trump’s visit as a “photo-op.”

“Nobody can explain to me how allowing millions of people from places unknown, from countries unknown, who don’t speak languages — we have languages coming into our country — we have nobody that even speaks those languages. They’re truly foreign languages. Nobody speaks them, and they’re pouring into our country, and they’re bringing with them tremendous problems, ” Trump said.

When asked by NBC News to clarify his remarks, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung didn’t clarify either the languages or the countries to which Trump referred. Trump and his Republican supporters have repeatedly claimed that immigrant “criminals” are “invading” the U.S. and “poisoning the blood of our country.” U.S. citizens commit crimes at higher rates than unauthorized immigrants, according to a 2020 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Trump has promised to instate the largest domestic deportation operation in history and incorporate “ideological screenings” for all immigrants if re-elected.

March 2, 2024: Trump vows to end elections, law and order

While speaking to reporters following New York City court hearings related to his business fraud conviction and alleged hush money payments, Trump vowed to “bring crime back to law and order.” Trump faces 88 criminal charges in Washington, D.C., for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, in Georgia for election interference, in New York for falsifying business records, and in Florida for stealing classified records after leaving the presidency.

When speaking to reporters, Trump later said, “You can’t have an election in the middle of a political season,” adding, “We just had Super Tuesday, and we had a Tuesday after Tuesday already.”

The term “political season” is an imprecise term that can refer either to the period of time when candidates officially declare their campaigns for office, the time in which candidates can legally receive financial contributions, or just any time period between general and mid-term elections. As such, all sorts of elections occur during “political season,” including primaries, special elections, and run-offs.

March 2, 2024: Trump calls Argentina “a great guy”

During a campaign rally in Richmond, Virginia, Trump said that his slogan, “Make America Great Again” (MAGA), is “the greatest movement in the history of our country, maybe the history of any country, even Argentina.”

He continued, “They went MAGA. You know, Argentina, great guy. He’s a big Trump guy. He loves Trump. I love him because he loves Trump. Anybody that loves me. I like them.”

Trump was likely referring to Argentina’s President Javier Milei. Like Trump, Milei has repeated unproven theories about election fraud, promised to cut longstanding government agencies, and attacked the press as “propaganda.” Milei’s supporters made “Make Argentina Great Again” hats and T-shirts during the campaign, mimicking Trump’s slogan, the Associated Press reported.

March 2, 2024: Trump confuses Barack Obama with Joe Biden

During his speech in Richmond, Virginia, Trump said, “Putin has so little respect for Obama that he’s starting to throw around the nuclear word. You heard that. Nuclear. He’s starting to talk nuclear weapons today. I was waiting for that to happen, but we have a fool, a fool as a president.”

Trump has repeatedly mixed up Obama and Biden while making speeches on the campaign trail. later claimed that he meant to mix up Obama and Biden “as an indication that others may actually be having a very big influence in running our Country.”

“When I say ‘Barack Hussein Obama is the president of the United States,’ [I am] meaning there’s a lot of control there because the one guy can’t put two sentences together,” Trump claimed. “But when I say that Obama is the president of our country, bah bah bah, they go, ‘He doesn’t know that it’s Biden. He doesn’t know.’ So it’s very hard to be sarcastic.”

Enjoy the show…

In many ways, verbal mistakes reinforce the idea that politicians are actually human.

It has been said that politics are a form of entertainment. As such, verbal gaffes are a usual part of any political performance, and both the media and the public enjoy highlighting and mocking each candidate’s slip-ups to provide some humor during an otherwise serious political season.

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