During a visit to an Ohio children’s hospital this Friday, President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump sat with children and colored in pictures of the American flag, but according to a picture posted to Twitter by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, the President of these United States apparently had a little trouble remembering where the right colors were supposed to go.
The opioid crisis is one of our top priorities at HHS, with a drumbeat of action on the full range of efforts where we can assist local communities. Today, I joined @POTUS & @FLOTUS in Ohio to learn how states and communities are responding to the challenge of opioid addiction. pic.twitter.com/NwxSoeNznA
— Alex Azar (@SecAzar) August 25, 2018
When the photo was posted, a Twitter user going by the name “Talia” zoomed in on the picture, revealing that Trump’s flag had a blue stripe colored in where the flag’s red and white stripes were supposed to be.
https://twitter.com/2020fight/status/1033162713378127873
Another photo first posted by Azar seemed to confirm the patriotic faux pas. Again, highlighted by Talia, the picture shows Trump applying what looks to be a blue marker to the paper.
https://twitter.com/2020fight/status/1033170724146442242
Talia’s initial tweet blew up and as of this writing has received well over 250,000 retweets and likes. Naturally, people piled on the flub from a president who uses the flag for his divisive propaganda. One Twitter user pointed out that Trump’s screw-up looked reminiscent of the Russian flag.
https://twitter.com/christinavotes/status/1033459864683593729
Someone tried to defend Trump by suggesting that he was simply making a pro-police “Thin Blue Line flag”:
https://twitter.com/LarkinJackson/status/1033458025519083526
But that was quickly debunked by someone pointing out that “there is no red on the thin blue line flag.”
“You’d think there’d be a social media editor to prune out the photos that suggest that the President of the United States can’t color an accurate reproduction of the single graphic he probably sees more than any other,” Gabrielle Bruny writes in Esquire.
Either way, we now know there’s a step beneath Trump not knowing the words to “God Bless America.”
Featured image via Twitter
