Former President Donald Trump became the subject of jokes and memes after his gaffe about waging all-out war on American democracy, which he later corrected, went viral.
Trump, who has made several gaffes on the campaign trail, inadvertently made the comment as he continued his attacks on the 2020 election results during a campaign stop in Iowa on Saturday, December 2.
"In 2016, you voted to stand up to those liars, looters, losers, crooks, and creeps. You elected an outsider as your president and it was about America first.
"We want to put our country first; they haven't done that in a long time, but we did it for four years and that's why we did so well," Trump, who is the current favorite to claim the Republican nomination, told a supportive crowd in Cedar Rapids.
The former president is facing an election subversion case in Washington D.C. after he was indicted on four counts in August over accusations that he attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Former President Donald Trump on December 2, 2023, in Ankeny, Iowa. Trump made a gaffe about waging "all-out war" on democracy during a campaign stop in Iowa. Getty
"That's why it was one of the great presidencies, they say. Even the opponents sometimes say he did very well, I have to say. 'Take it back,' they scream. his people say 'Take it back.' From that day on, our opponents, a lot of opponents, but we've been waging an all-out war on American democracy."
The segment of the speech containing the "all-out war" gaffe went viral on X, formerly Twitter, after being uploaded by Acyn, a researcher for the self-styled "pro-democracy" MeidasTouch Network. As of Sunday morning, the clip had been viewed more than 1.8 million times.
Trump: We’ve been waging an all out war on American democracy pic.twitter.com/4YQDfsvTwi — Acyn (@Acyn) December 2, 2023
Verified account VBrian Resists responded to Acyn's post with a cartoon of Trump placing dynamite at the base of a statue with the word "Democracy," and added the caption "No ****."
Bill DeMayo shared a GIF of Family Guy character Peter Griffin saying: "Ah! Ah" He said it! He said it!."
Not everyone who replied to the post had a negative opinion about Trump, with the verified account Jordan Vegan Patriot said: "What do you consider the definition of democracy to be? I'm curious, give me your definition, I'll wait right here."
Acyn's MeidasTouch Network article about the gaffe said Trump had "inadvertently" made the comment.
An unedited version of the speech at Iowa shared by Right Side Broadcasting Network, a Trump-supporting channel, also showed the former president seeming to attempt to correct himself shortly after making the gaffe.
"You look at what they've [Democrats] been doing and becoming more and more extreme and repressive," Trump said looking at a teleprompter. "They have just waged an all-out war with each passing day."
Trump then repeated his common unfounded attack line that the Democrats "rigged" and "stole" the 2020 election.
Newsweek has contacted Trump's representatives for comment via email.
freddie_merkury on December 3rd, 2023 at 14:31 UTC »
How can any human being read this and say yep, that's our guy!
For fucks sake! Go out and vote!
mrlr on December 3rd, 2023 at 12:35 UTC »
"we've been waging an all-out war on American democracy"
He tells the truth for once and everybody calls it a gaffe.
olderdeafguy1 on December 3rd, 2023 at 12:22 UTC »
You can see he's writing his own speeches now