Originally Posted by
Bob21
Originally Posted by
redietz
I have a question. How can you get Ft. McHenry and which war wrong? I'm about the most ignorant person when it comes to American history, and I couldn't get that wrong.
I don't really care about the riff regarding airports and such. That might have been an in-the-moment spontaneity that went awry. But I am worried about who wrote the speech yesterday, and the obvious lack of simple fact checkers vis-à-vis American history. I assume someone other than Trump wrote it, and I have to assume multiple people read it beforehand. So how can a U.S. president get tagged with a historical boner like that? Does no one around him really know that Ft. McHenry and the Star Spangled Banner were about the War of 1812?
I just do not get it. I mean, I am truly awful at American history. I'd be banned from fifth grade Jeopardy for incompetence if there were history questions. What is the mechanism by which nobody caught that? That is the worst factual error in a presidential speech of which I'm aware, and it came on Independence Day. What the hell?
redietz, all presidents make gaffes during their speeches. I mean Obama once said there were 57 states. Talk about a boner. I bet more people know the number of states in our country than know Ft. McHenry was about the War of 1812 and the Star Spangled Banner. In fact, I'll bet most Americans think the Star Spangled Banner was about the Revolutionary war rather than the War of 1812. It'd be an interesting poll question. This is far above 5th grade history. I probably wouldn't have known this if I hadn't visited Ft McHenry when I lived in Baltimore.
Who knows Trump might have done that on purpose to get the liberals riled up? He likes to use hyperbole and make little misstatements to get the press's panties in knots. Conservatives could care less. They think it's funny and look at the big picture.
For more of Obama's gaffes, I've attached a link. Obama also though Hawaii is in Asia, and said many other stupid things, which all went unnoticed by the liberal press.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...ot-for-laughs/
I'll engage on this, as it's not about liberals and conservatives, and it's not directly about Trump, at least not to me. You're missing my point, Bob21. I wasn't concerned with the president making a "gaffe." The gaffes with Obama you're referencing are when he's saying something spontaneously. Everybody fucks up occasionally when they are riffing. That's why I don't care about the airport comment by Trump. I'm sure the airport comment wasn't written into the speech.
What concerns me is the mechanism by which an actual speech can include the Ft. McHenry comment. I have to think Trump didn't just insert that off the top of his head. That would be highly unlikely. I'm sure Obama's actual 57 state comment wasn't written into the speech. But this Ft. McHenry thing appears to have been built into the speech.
I do not blame Trump for this, although he's left holding the bag. I blame whatever mechanism hires a speechwriter lacking a fifth grade knowledge of history and whatever mechanism allows the speech to go unedited. It implies a real disorganized lack of responsibilities around Trump or some real historical idiocy. I don't know which. The speechwriter should be fired today, unless Trump inserted that in the moment, which I think has about a 5% chance of being the case. And everybody who vetted the speech should be fired.
So no, I don't blame Trump. I'm just amazed that somebody writing speeches for the president can be so ignorant. It blows my mind. And no, this is not above fifth grade history. It's ridiculous. Can you imagine the blowback on this piddly forum (coach belly, are you listening?) if I had said Ft. McHenry was during the Revolutionary War? I'd get tarred and feathered.
I just do not understand the mechanism that allowed that into a speech. If you are really into conspiracy theories where every stupid error is on purpose, well, God b
less you...and Ft. McHenry. Isn't that where they dumped the tea?