President Trump addressed evangelical conservatives Friday at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, DC.
At the top of his speech, he mentioned the recent string of natural disasters that have struck Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.
"I left Texas, and I left Florida, and I left Louisiana, and I went to Puerto Rico, and I met with the president of the Virgin Islands," he told the crowd.
It's just that, well, Trump is the president of the US Virgin Islands, because that's a US territory.
Trump says he met with the "president of the Virgin Islands." *cough* he is the president of the Virgin islands,… https://t.co/daZiuHyTas
Trump was presumably referring to meeting Kenneth Mapp, the governor of the US Virgin Islands, when he visited hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico on Oct. 3.
The White House later sent out a transcript of the speech with the word "president" crossed out and replaced with governor.
official White House transcript
The gaffe came a day after the president's energy secretary, Rick Perry, mistakenly referred to Puerto Rico as a "country" during a congressional hearing.
"Well, it's America. They're American citizens, so it's not a country" Rick Perry is corrected after calling Puert… https://t.co/CFcHxurBkb
The president has also been criticized for his response to the hurricanes in US territories in the Caribbean, with some suggesting he is treating them like foreign countries.
Trump's Virgin Islands mistake had a lot of people reaching for FacePalm.GIFs
@davidmackau
@davidmackau
@davidmackau
@davidmackau
But others imagined what it would like look if Trump were to meet with "the president of the Virgin Islands."
@davidmackau Actual footage of Donald trump meeting the President of the Virgin Islands
@davidmackau 😂
@davidmackau @MikeRigz
Or when he realized that, deep down (and by law) he was the president of the Virgin Islands all along.
@davidmackau when he realizes he's the president of the US Virgin islands
Coincidentally, the blunder happened the same week he boasted he would take an IQ test to show he's smarter than his own secretary of state.
@davidmackau "I'm speaking with myself because I have a very good brain" - Donald Trump
@davidmackau Trump: I need an IQ test to prove I'm smart Me: