In a faux pas that will surely sink him, Donald Trump on Wednesday repeatedly mispronounced "Nevada" while campaigning in the state, despite stressing the importance of pronouncing it correctly.
Trump was at a campaign rally in Reno talking about the problem of drug overdoses when he first pronounced the Silver State's name with a long "a" sound, similar to the beginning of the word "autumn," in the second syllable.
"Nevaaaaahda," Trump said.
Here's Trump mispronouncing Nevada while insisting on pronouncing it correctly.
As is widely known, however, the state's name is properly pronounced with a short "a" sound, similar to the beginning of the word "add" or Sheldon Adelson's last name.
Nevertheless, Trump pressed on.
"You know what I said. I said when I came out here, I said, nobody says it the other way, it has to be Nevaaaahda," Trump continued. "Right. And if you don't say it correctly, and it didn't happen to me but it happened to a friend of mine. He was killed."
In addition to the Reno rally Wednesday, Trump also campaigned in Henderson, a suburb of Las Vegas. During that rally, Trump mentioned the fact that he has invested heavily in the state and has a hotel on the strip.
Sen. Harry Reid, Nevaaahda's senior senator, slammed Trump for his pronunciation late Wednesday. In an email to BuzzFeed News, Reid's spokesman Adam Jentleson confirmed that "it's Nev-AD-a."
A statement from Reid to BuzzFeed News continued:
"If Donald Trump wants to come down from the penthouse his daddy bought him to lecture us on how to say Nevada, he could at least pronounce it correctly. Instead, Trump told us we pronounce the name of our state wrong minutes before he refused to take a position on Yucca Mountain. I have news for Donald: it's pronounced Nev-AD-a and Yucca Mountain is dead.”