The U.S. men’s hockey players got off to a great start in the team’s quest to win a gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
Team USA went on to defeat the European nation 5-1, with Arizona-born Brady Tkachuk scoring the first goal against Latvia in the preliminary-round contest at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena earlier this month.
President Donald Trump and his administration decided to give the players a special shoutout that mirrors his inability to admit when he’s wrong or to fix an error.
The official White House page on X celebrated Tkachuk, 36, finding the back of the net at the 5:29 mark in the game by sharing a clip of the moment. While looking to highlight Team USA’s embrace of the iconic Lynyrd Skynyrd rock anthem “Free Bird” as their goal song, a massive typo appeared.
“QUEUE FREE BIRD,” read the chosen caption for the clip of No. 7 receiving an assist from his 28-year-old brother, Matthew Tkachuk, before launching the puck past Latvia’s goaltender.
Almost instantaneously, the White House got dragged for using the wrong word “queue” (meaning a line or sequence of people) instead of the correct term “cue” (meaning to prompt or give an indication).
The blatant error sparked intense ridicule and indignation directed at Trump’s social media team, especially since the tweet has not been corrected as of this writing. The internet had a field day taking the White House to task.
“It’s ‘cue’ you f–king idiots,” declared a seemingly irritated X user when describing the White House insiders working for Trump. A like-minded person exclaimed, “It’s ‘cue’ dumb f–ks. A ‘queue’ is waiting for something.”
Additionally, one bewildered commenter on the app sarcastically wondered, “Free birds are getting in a line? Wtf?” Yet another individual on the platform forcefully demanded, “Fix this!!! It’s cue.”
The vilification resumed when one post read, “EMBARRASSING: The White House just humiliated itself on social media with something even worse than a typo. Are they really all this dumb?”
If President Trump and the White House had only fired the “staffer” that posted the Obamas video we wouldn’t be in QUEUE – CUE GATE
Joe Gallina, a political influencer, attorney, and the founder of Call To Activism, exploded when he discovered what happened and went off in a 28-second video, slamming Trump and his subordinates for the usage mistake. He specifically called for all the “f–king morons” at the White House to lose their jobs.
“Yes. Yes, they are that stupid,” someone wrote in the replies to Gallina’s uncomplimentary message. Another offered, “The most unintelligent administration in the history of the United States.”
Trump may not be directly to blame for the White House’s slip-up when congratulating the U.S. hockey team, but the president is known to have misspellings in his own posts.
He’s known to misspell titles, words, buildings, and even his own wife’s name, confusing “Melania” for “Melania” on several occasions, and never apologizes.
Back in January, a lengthy Truth Social rant featured the former reality show star writing “Noble Peace Prize” as opposed to the accurate spelling of the prestigious award named after Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel.
It was ironic to many, given that Trump had spent much of the last few years convincing the public that he deserved the award over others.
Trump is mercilessly mocked over his incessant complaints about not winning the Nobel Peace Prize, just like his predecessor, former President Barack Obama. His obsession with the honor left him open to getting dragged for mixing up the letters in the name.
Trump has struggled with the English language at times. The charismatic New York City native has built a following through his fiery, controversial speeches that sometimes stray off topic into incoherence.
Gaffes have become a regular part of Trump’s public utterances. Just as examples, in the past year, the MAGA frontman botched the spelling of his own name, stumbled over the pronunciation of “Abraham” in front of the world, and confused “effect” with “affect.”
