US: The Alaskan gaffe made by Donald Trump provokes ‘clueless’ teasing

US: Following his apparent misidentification of the names of an Alaskan wildlife reserve and a military air facility in Afghanistan, former President Donald Trump has come under fire on the internet.

The statements were made on Tuesday at a town hall in Flint, Michigan, when the Republican presidential contender was talking about his energy proposals. The event was hosted by Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a former press secretary for the White House and governor of Arkansas.

Trump seemed to confuse the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan with the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska, which he opened to oil and gas production during his administration, during the town hall meeting.

The 78-year-old’s error sparked further worries that he is too old to run for president and doesn’t have the mental capacity for the job; one critic on social media dubbed him “clueless.” Prior to withdrawing from the race for reelection in July, President Joe Biden, 81, dealt with comparable issues, making Trump the oldest presidential contender in American history.

“We were energy independent, we were going to be energy dominant, and we would have been having so much money coming out of the energy,” said President Trump on Tuesday. We just own the greatest.”Bagram is located in Alaska. They claim that it might be larger than, or at least as large as, all of Saudi Arabia. It was authorized by me. Ronald Reagan was unable to succeed. It was impossible for anybody to accomplish. I completed it.”

Trump murmured an answer as he attempted to rectify himself, seeming to recognize his error.
“Look at that one, Bagram. Look into that one. It’s, it’s—wait, consider this: We need to have that air base between Bagram and—you go to ANWR, you look at the kinds of things that we’ve given up. That oil ought to be ours.”

As part of its promises to preserve 13 million acres of wildness, the Biden administration cancelled the remaining ANWR oil and gas licenses awarded to the Trump administration in September 2023. After the United States withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban took control of the Bagram Air Base. Following the tragedy at Kabul airport that claimed the lives of thirteen American military men, Trump has repeatedly criticized Biden over the pullout.

Several of Trump’s detractors have now made fun of the former president for what seems to have been an error.

Amy McGrath, a former Democratic candidate in Kentucky and a former Marine fighter pilot, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “Bagram was the airbase he had in Afghanistan—the same base where we kept hundreds of Taliban and ISIS prisoners that Trump released back out into Afghanistan in his final year in office.” “He is CLUELESS folks.”

Former top advisor to Trump’s 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton, Zac Petkanas, wrote: “Looking forward to the dozen NYT stories about Trump’s age and mental acuity.” Wait, what? That’s exclusive to Democrats.

National security attorney Bradley P. Moss said in a letter: “This is elder abuse. Don Sleepy has lost all sense of his whereabouts. He has no idea if he is still alive.”

“The thing is, you can’t really give him the benefit of the doubt that he just confused two things that sound a bit alike,” said columnist and writer Justin Baragona. There is no phonetic similarity between ANWR and Bagram.”

Media sent an email requesting comment to Trump’s office.

Amidst the town hall, Trump defended his sometimes meandering public addresses and downplayed Vice President Kamala Harris’ remark during their previous presidential debate that attendees leave his rallies early “out of exhaustion and boredom.”

Trump said, “I give these long, sometimes very complex sentences and paragraphs, but they all come together,” and claimed that “everyone stays till the end” of his rallies.

Media earlier received a statement from a Trump representative saying, “Nobody is leaving our rallies, whereas Kamala needs to bus people to her events and use curtains to cover up large sections of her rallies because they are so poorly attended.”