Donald Trump's surprising claim that George Washington's revolutionary troops "took over the airports" during the War of Independence could be explained by his method of correcting himself when he misreads his autocue - doubling down and trying to incorporate the mistake into his speech.
His bizarre ad lib, suggesting there were airports to seize more than 100 years before the first successful flight, came moments after he seemed to stumble over a phrase in his speech.
Describing how Washington's patriots defeated the British between 1775 and 1783, the president told crowds gathered to hear his Fourth of July address: "Our army manned the air." At that point he paused briefly, apparently realising he had misspoken, before continuing: "It rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do …"
Seemingly thrown by the mistakes, he then alluded to Fort McHenry, a Maryland stronghold best known for its role in a completely different conflict - the 1812 war with Britain.
It's not clear exactly how the speech was meant to read.
He stumbled and exchanged the word "rampart" which no one uses on a daily basis with "airport" which sounds similar and is regularly used. If Biden did it, the press would either chuckle and excuse it or try to deny it every happened. "I didn't hear airport! Let's go Brandon!"
ReplyDeleteBut Trump? Ha! Ha! He thought there were airports in 1776. What a loser!