Despite all the worry and criticism in the run-up to President Trump’s big Independence Day event, it mostly went pretty smoothly.
The weather refused to play nice, but the crowds were large and while protesters from both sides of the aisle were demonstrating, no violence broke out.
Really, considering how things could have gone, Trump’s weird history mistake is pretty mild.
But it’s still funny.
And personally, I think it would be funny no matter who said it in what speech, but because it’s Trump, reactions hit social media within moments.
For the most part, Trump stuck to his script, touting the American military, but it was during a recap of American history that things got weird.
“The Continental Army suffered a bitter winter at Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown. Our Army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over airports , it did everything it had to do.
“And at Fort McHenry, under the rockets’ red glare, had nothing but victory. When dawn came, the star-spangled banner waved defiant.”
The army “manned the air” and “took over airports,” huh? In 1781?
For the record, the first flight by the Wright Brothers was in 1903 .
The first airport was opened in 1909. It’s the College Park Airport in Maryland and Wilbur Wright taught military officers to fly the first airplane there. It’s pretty cool that the airport is still operating.
The White House didn’t release the full text of the prepared speech ahead of time.
For a lot of big events, it’s common for the press to get a copy before the speech is given.
In this case, though, I bet they wish they had followed that tradition.
Because we don’t have the full text, we don’t know who is to blame for this particular gaff. Was it part of the speech or did Trump ad-lib?
Did nobody with a ninth grade history credit proofread the speech before it was finalized?
It’s also possible that Trump either struggled to read the teleprompter or there was a technical issue and he was forced to ad-lib a bit.
Either way, it doesn’t look good.
There also seems to be a transition missing between the mention of Yorktown and Fort McHenry.
It really sounds like he’s talking about the same war, but Fort McHenry — and the Star-Spangled Banner — are from the War of 1812.
It’s a small thing that could be easily fixed: “And in 1814 , at Fort McHenry…” Which is why my suspicion is that the speech didn’t get a thorough copyedit.
Regardless of who you think is to blame, talking about airports in the 1700s is pretty hilarious.
Which resulted in my favorite hashtag game in a while: #RevolutionaryWarAirportStories .
People began making up silly descriptions of what an airport battle in the late 18th Century might look like.
Some are even written like letters home to loved ones.
No, not the Cinnabons!
Really, revolutionary airports sound like a lot of fun.
Other people tried updating the nation anthem to reflect this new historical discovery.
Phew. I was worried that when dawn came, the airports would be gone!
I would have loved to see dramatic rap battles in the air during ‘Hamilton’.
Of course, without the official text of the speech released prior to the event, there’s no way to know whether Trump is to blame for this gaff. Even if the text is released now, it could easily be altered.
Personally, I don’t care who is to blame. The whole thing is just hilarious.
h/t: HuffPost
