Donald Trump botches statement on the passing of Barbara Bush, deletes it

Former First Lady Barbara Bush passed away today, after a long struggle with illness. Even as public condolences poured in from political figures on both sides of the aisle, Donald Trump tweeted a statement as well. But the statement posted by Trump was so embarrassingly botched, and received so much scorn, he ended up having to delete it and try again with a new version.

Here’s what Trump posted on Twitter, and see if you can catch the part where he blew it:

That’s right, he listed today’s date as being “April 17th, 2017.” Today is of course April 17th, 2018. Everyone makes mistakes. But this was an official statement from the current President of the United States about the passing of a former First Lady of the United States. It’s not the kind of thing you get to screw up. Based on the header it appears to have been written by someone in the Press Secretary’s office. If so, then it means Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Donald Trump either read over this statement and didn’t catch the incorrect date, or neither of them even read it before it was posted.

After a number of responses called him out for it, Donald Trump ended up deleting the statement and posting a new version with no date on it. It’s worth noting that Barbara Bush found Trump to be objectionable in a manner which went beyond politics or partisanship. She once stated “I don’t know how women can vote” for him. Now Trump has carelessly and embarrassingly botched his statement about Mrs. Bush’s passing.