Trump Said Airports Existed During The Revolutionary War And Twitter Lost It
The whole internet is roasting Trump for thinking there were planes in the Revolutionary War
Well, the National Mall 4th of July celebration is over. We made it through. We knew in the days leading up to the event that Donald Trump was turning the traditionally nonpartisan celebration with free entry for all Americans into a private, ticketed campaign rally for his donors and supporters. We also knew he was diverting $2.5 million from the already cash-strapped National Parks service to put on this tax-payer funded, private event. All that was embarrassing enough. We could only hope he wouldn’t embarrass us with his speech.
We should have known that was too much to ask for. Trump was the first president to speak at the National Mall on the 4th of July since 1951, because, again, this event is usually nonpartisan. And in his speech, Trump thanked the continental army of 1781 for… bravely taking over the airports in the Revolutionary War.
Yes, really. Here it is on video.
“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 tells the crowd. “Our army manned the [unclear], it [unclear] the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do. And at Fort McHenry, under ‘the rockets red glare,’ it had nothing but victory. And when dawn came, their star-spangled banner waved defiant.”
We literally don’t have time to get into the numerous historical inaccuracies contained in just this one passage, but, um, just to be clear, the Wright Brothers made the first recorded flights on a powered aircraft in 1903, which was 120-something years after the time Trump referenced in his speech. And even then, it’s not like planes immediately became a common mode of transportation. The world’s first airport wasn’t built until 1928.
Since we have to laugh so we don’t cry, the internet promptly turned to Twitter to roast Trump for his ridiculous comment. People started sharing stories of the horrors Revolutionary soldiers faced at the airports of the time, and really, these jokes and memes are the only good thing to come out of this fiasco.
Many of the tweets were written as letters soldiers wrote to their wives and families.
Others shared forgotten artwork of the time including these iconic battle scenes.
There were some real images and footage from the war, released for the first time ever. Fascinating.
As well as some historical interesting facts and tidbits you may not have heard before.
And then there’s this, the only reasonable (and completely hilarious) explanation for how things like this keep happening.
All jokes aside, we still don’t know the price tag that will come for Trump’s 4th of July rally, which truly was a private event held at the taxpayers’ expense. Photos from the event show that chain-link fences were erected all around the Lincoln Memorial and the National Mall to ensure only ticketholders could access areas where they could see the tanks, military personnel, events, and Trump’s speech.
A fence was actually erected through the center of the reflecting pool to keep distance between the VIP viewing areas and the places where the riff-raff were allowed in.
It’s a nice break from the horror show to laugh at the President’s latest stupid gaffe, but let’s not lose sight of his wasteful disregard for our tax dollars — and, apparently, his non-wealthy supporters.
