Donald Trump Claims He Was Being 'Sarcastic' When Mixing Up Prominent Figures in Recent Gaffes

Former President Donald Trump recently addressed the media's critique of his recent gaffes, claiming that he intentionally mistook prominent figures to be "sarcastic."

Over the past few months, Trump has been prone to mixing up President Joe Biden with former President Barack Obama, struggling with identifying countries, forgetting his location and misidentifying world leaders. One particularly notable mistake was when he insisted that former Ambassador Nikki Haley was in charge of security during the January 6th incident.

At a rally in North Charleston, S.C., Trump defended his gaffes, stating that he intentionally "interposed" Haley with Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi because he believed they both had negative qualities.

He claimed his intention was misunderstood and highlighted the challenges of using "sarcasm" in his statements.

Trump also referred to the late Rush Limbaugh, recalling how the radio host emphasized Obama's full name, which the former president claims to have adopted from the late radio host.

"When I say 'Barack Hussein Obama is the president of the United States,' meaning there’s a lot of control there because the one guy can’t put two sentences together. So I say 'Barack Hussein Obama.'"

"Remember Rush, he used to go 'Barack Hussein Obama,' he’d go 'Barack Hussein Obama.' But he did that — Rush. Do we miss rush? Yes?" Trump asked the crowd. "But when I say that Obama is the president of our country, bah bah bah, they go. 'He doesn’t know that it's Biden. He doesn’t know.' It's very hard to be sarcastic."

Several users took to X, formerly known as Twitter, after Trump's speech to criticize the former president for trying to talk his way out of some serious slip-ups on the campaign trail.

One user shared a clip of the speech mocking Trump in a post that read, "Seriously guys, it was a joke. It just went over your head because I am so smart."

Another user wrote, "That... that's not what sarcasm means. This man is struggling to comprehend basic English. The one and only language he's known his entire life."

A third user joked, "These gaffes are like two weeks old and THIS is the best excuse he could come up with in that time? This election is seriously just two old farts in a home yelling at the TV."

Never miss a story — sign up for the OK! newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what OK! has to offer. It’s gossip too good to wait for!

According to Real Clear Politics, Trump is averaging around a 1.9-point lead over Biden in recent polls — with a recent YouGov poll showing only a one-point swing in the former president's favor.

This keeps the race in a statistical tie between the two likely candidates when factoring in the margin of error.