Trump Says Troops ‘Took Over Airports’ During Revolutionary War, in Rainy Fourth of July Speech

Authored by rollingstone.com and submitted by HandSack135

Twenty-eight years after tanks were last in Washington, D.C., they returned for President Donald Trump’s ego parade, titled “A Salute to America.” Although, the tanks did not roll down the city’s streets as the president wanted. They instead flanked him as he gave a speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The speech largely avoided politics, focusing instead on the military.

But while recapping great military victories, Trump stumbled, failing to read the teleprompter accurately, he said that American troops in the Revolutionary War “took over airports,” not realizing, of course, that airports did not exist in the 1700s.

“In June of 1775 the Continental Congress created a unified Army out of the Revolutionary Forces encamped around Boston and New York, and named after the great George Washington, commander-in-chief. The Continental Army suffered a bitter winter of Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown,” Trump said.

Then, he went off the rails and seemingly mixed up the Revolutionary War with the War of 1812. “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.”

As @kendallybrown points out, Trump, while struggling to read in this clip, claims that the American military "took over the airports" during a battle that took place well before airplanes were even invented pic.twitter.com/DiJDLWcDYb — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 4, 2019

In another moment, Trump re-upped his Mars promise, vowing to “plant the American flag on Mars,” adding, “It’s happening, team, it’s happening.”

Trump: "We are going to be back on the Moon very soon and someday soon, we will plant the American flag on Mars" pic.twitter.com/QuzTDtV2cm — CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 4, 2019

Although “concerns ran deep” among White House staff that the event would not attract a large crowd, a respectable amount of people seemed to show up. And, of course, Trump bragged about it.

A great crowd of tremendous Patriots this evening, all the way back to the Washington Monument! #SaluteToAmerica🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/nJghdfqIhX — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 5, 2019

But no matter how many people were actually there, one thing we can count on is that Trump and his staff will inflate that number starting tomorrow.

Sabbathius on July 5th, 2019 at 02:53 UTC »

I read the headline and thought to myself "Nah, must be taken out of context, or..." Nope. He said it. And the worst part is, nobody laughed, they just nodded along.

02K30C1 on July 5th, 2019 at 02:14 UTC »

At this point I’m wondering if his speech writers are purposely punking him.

joeefx on July 5th, 2019 at 01:59 UTC »

And rammed the ramparts! Just walked right up to them and rammed them.