Donald Trump, sitting duck for gaffes and embarrassing spelling errors

What: Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States of America, is famous for his flaming orange hair and infamous for his glaring goof-ups. But the world almost looks forward to the latter. His latest: referring to Apple CEO Tim Cook as “Tim Apple” at the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board meeting at the White House earlier this week. He said, “...you’ve really put a big investment in our country. We really appreciate it very much, Tim Apple.” 

For anyone who follows the news, this faux pas is probably one of Trump’s most harmless. In fact, Cook was gracious enough to replace his surname with an apple icon on his Twitter account, truly becoming Tim Apple for all the users of his company’s products worldwide (the apple emoticon cannot be viewed on Android phones). 

The Tim Apple incident prompted some digging up of Trump’s special variety of goof-ups and his reluctance to acknowledge his mistakes. While some of these are funny, others are scary as they reflect a wilful ignorance on the part of one of the world’s most powerful men. 

How: During one of his many presidential speeches, Trump referred to 9/11 (which everyone not living under a rock recognises as referring to the series of attacks against the US by terrorist organisation al-Qaeda), as “7/11”. Most people who don’t live under a rock know that 7-Eleven is the name of a popular chain of convenience stores in North America. “7/11” is also a 2013 song by American singer, Beyoncé. 

In November 2018, Camp Fire, one of California’s deadliest wildfire incidents, burnt down the densely populated town of Paradise. There were at least 85 casualties as the fire destroyed most structures within four hours. It took 17 days to contain the fire. But when President Trump visited the remains of Paradise, he called the town “Pleasure”. 

With news of Trump’s alleged hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels attracting global attention, Trump was already walking on eggshells around his wife, First Lady Melania Trump. One cannot and should not imagine Melania’s wrath at this tweet put out by her husband. “Great to have our incredible First Lady back home in the White House. Melanie is feeling and doing really well. Thank you for all of your prayers and best wishes!” The big question: who’s Melanie?

In an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, Trump and the American journalist were discussing the moment he decided to strike Syria. Instead of focusing on the details of America’s foreign policy, Trump went on and on about a “beautiful piece of chocolate cake” he had shared with Chinese President Xi Jinping. And while still gushing about the dessert, he declared, “We’ve just launched 59 missiles heading to Iraq.” What? Iraq?

Why: Trump is a careless president. His Twitter account, rich with spelling mistakes and blunders, is just another evidence of his couldn’t-care-less approach to the world. In this POTUS-owned space, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe becomes the President of Japan. And, “smoking” becomes “smocking”. A man who refuses to listen or acknowledge blatant mistakes insists he knows a lot about a variety of topics. So, all one can say is, we really appreciate it very much, Donald, er, Duck.