During a recent press briefing, Donald Trump made a comically incorrect statement, claiming that in 1917, the Spanish flu "probably ended the Second World War." Of course however, the Second World War began almost two decades after the pandemic and Trump likely meant to say “the First World War.” While this may be no more than a simple slip up, Twitter isn’t a place that forgives easily and users wasted no time roasting the president.
One user wrote “it's probably a good thing the secret service cut the press conference short,” also pointing out that Trump fudged the year the pandemic began (1918, not 1917). Another implored him: “Please don’t try to sound smart,” dubbing the moment an example of “#DrunkHistoryTrump”
One user even called into question the president’s mental health state, writing “Anyone w/ a functioning mind would not mess this kind of stuff up. His frontotemporal dementia causes gaps in his brain & gaps in his memory. It gets worse.”
While many have come with scathing critiques, a few users have opted to defend Trump for what they see as an innocent mistake, adding that his opponent Joe Biden has had no shortage of slip-ups himself. Others have focused their criticism on the media, which they say did not adequately challenge Trump’s false claims.
What do you think? Was this incident nothing more than a simple misstatement or indicative of a larger issue? Let us know below.