New concerns about President Donald Trump’s physical and mental fitness caused an internet explosion after he seemed to confuse South America with South Africa during a speech before the American Business Forum on Wednesday in Miami.
A visibly tired and hunched-over Trump, who was also leaning on the podium support, was reading off a teleprompter as usual when he flubbed his lines about communism in South America. He then went totally off script in a meandering, nonsensical tirade about the upcoming G20 summit in Johannesburg later this month in an attempt to ad-lib, but he flamed out in spectacular fashion.
“For generations, Miami has been a haven for those fleeing communist tyranny in South Africa,” Trump began before saying, “I mean, if you take a look at what’s going on in parts of South Africa.”
Opps. Trump tried to recover but conspicuously failed, leaving his audience wondering, “What is he talking about?”
“Look at South Africa what’s going on. Look at South America, what’s going on. You know I’m not going, we have a G20 meeting in South Africa. South Africa shouldn’t even be in the G’s anymore because what’s happened there is bad. I’m not going. I told them I’m not going. I’m not gonna represent our country there. It shouldn’t be there,” Trump ranted.
He said all that before working his way back to where he flubbed his line.
“Take a look at what’s happening in different parts of South America. Take a look at what’s happening in different parts of the world,” Trump continued.
And the internet had a field day.
“His teleprompter says ‘South America.’ But Dementia J. Trump says ‘South Africa’ by mistake. But Trump can’t admit ever making a mistake. So he decides instead to ad lib some gibberish about South Africa before working his way back to drivel about South America,” the editor-in-chief of the news outlet MeidasTouch, Ron Filipkowski, pointed out in a post on X above of a clip of Trump’s gobbledygook.
X user Heather agreed, “Donny is ‘slipping’ Has anyone else noticed? When he addressed the military with Petey was my light bulb moment! He’s increasingly sounding ‘old’ and confused.”
This X user hysterically suggested, “Maybe it’s time for another MRI.”
“HOLY DEMENTIA! Even for him, wow,” Spiro’s Ghost commented.
“He’s on a random South kick. Surprised he doesn’t mention South Dakota,” another X user joked.
“@realDonaldTrump just confused South Africa with South America while ranting about communism in Miami. The man’s brain is running Windows 95 in Safe Mode. It’s a neurological emergency wrapped in fascist nostalgia,” Frank C declared.
But journalist Aaron Rupar, who first posted video of the now-viral Trump clip, probably said it best: “If Joe Biden said this during a speech, Hannity would immediately start anchoring special coverage and the New York Times would fire up a live blog breaking down every syllable.”
Earlier this year, the Trump administration began offering Afrikaner South Africans refugee status after effectively ending refugee admissions for all other groups, including those living in dangerous conditions in nations like Afghanistan and Haiti.
During a White House meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in May, Trump ambushed him with a video purporting to show the genocide of white farmers, which has since been widely debunked. Ramaphosa also quickly denied the conspiracy claims.
Ramaphosa was hoping to discuss economic cooperation with Trump. The United States is South Africa’s second-largest trading partner. But Trump instead doubled down on the discredited claims of white genocide.
Critics pointed to this and other actions in accusing Trump and his cronies of engaging in white supremacy, because on the same day 59 white South Africans arrived in the U.S. on May 12 Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem announced the U.S. was ending temporary protected status for more than 9,000 Afghans who risked their lives working with the U.S. during its 20-year war against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
