Over the weekend, a viral video of former President Donald Trump declaring “We should keep our country gay” garnered more than 1 million views on Twitter.
On Friday night, Trump held a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, to speak about candidates he supports ahead of November’s midterm elections in the divided battleground state. During his speech, the former president tried to discuss his 2020 marketing campaign’s slogan, “Keep America Good,” but mispronounced it — and Twitter quickly filled with jokes about the gaffe.
“Remember, I need to say, to use a phrase, we have to maintain homosexuality in our country,” Trump said.
He then seemed to notice the mistake and stumbled over the next few sentences without correcting him, “We should keep our country good”. He continued, “But that’s not the case – for some purpose, it doesn’t sound good anymore.”
Alison Joyce/Getty Photos
Video of the blunder circulating on social media over the weekend. A video posted by the anti-Trump Twitter account MeidasTouch had more than 1 million views as of Sunday morning. Individual clips posted by the Acyn Twitter account have been credited with more than 600,000 instances.
Many social media customers joked about the video.
“Trump: ‘We should keep our country gay.’ Finally sensible,” Mike Sington, a former administration official at NBCUniversal, tweeted.
“Trump tried a catchy new slogan at a rally tonight. I’m not sure if his base can actually be proud of ‘holding up our country gays’,” tweeted Ed Greenberg .
Some have also drawn comparisons to President Joe Biden, whom Republicans join Trump in accusing him of dementia, largely based on comparable clips of Biden stuttering or pretending not to speak. Still, no one has been publicly admitted to have dementia.
“Let our nation’s gays… er… ERP professional criminals no longer be good for some purpose… It’s cute when people talk about Biden’s speech impediment while ignoring Trump’s apparent dementia,” tweeted Author Holly Figueroa O’Reilly writes.
“Let’s make our country gay…wrong…every criminal’s ERP isn’t, for some purpose, it’s no longer good…”
It’s pleasing when people talk about Biden’s speech impediment while ignoring Trump’s apparent dementia.pic.twitter.com/OJub2ujXkk
— Holly Figueroa O’Reilly (@AynRandPaulRyan) September 24, 2022
The History of Trump and LGBTQ+ Groups
Trump’s relationship with LGBTQ+ groups is seen as volatile.
During his presidency, the White House has adopted what is considered an anti-LGBTQ+ mandate and reporting position. The Trump White House has refused to issue visas to single same-sex domestic partners of overseas diplomats and United Nations staff. Trump’s White House also baked Jack Phillips, a baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for gay couples, during the Supreme Court trial. The previous president also supported an anti-transgender insurance policy, as well as a ban on transgender people serving in the military.
Still, he has some supporters in the LGBTQ+ community. During a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago in March, Trump was criticized for telling a group of his gay supporters “they don’t look gay.”
On the occasion of Michigan congressional candidate John Gibbs’ victory over Rep. Peter Meijer in the Republican primary, Trump demanded, “Trump’s gays are in where?”
“You don’t look gay,” he said, to which someone in the audience responded, “We’re right here.” Telling members of the LGBTQ+ community whether they “look gay” or not is considered rude or insulting.
Information week Trump’s workplace has been contacted for comment.
Video of Trump saying ‘we should stand up for homosexuality in our country’ counts as 1 million cases