What to Know
If you’ve listened to any of President Donald Trump’s speeches, you’ve probably heard him say some version of he “inherited a mess” and the United States was “a laughingstock.” Well, he said the same thing at a recent event, but made a pretty awkward mistake.
During an April 2026 event in Las Vegas, Trump said, “A year ago, our country was an embarrassment. And all over the world, they laughed at us.” Oh? And who was president a year ago? Definitely not Former President Joe Biden.
Trump frequently uses these insults to criticize the Biden administration.
Trump: A year ago, our country was an embarrassment. All over the world, they laughed at us. pic.twitter.com/voIgUfku6R
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 17, 2026
Presumably, that’s what he was going for at the recent event, but he clearly hasn’t updated his rant. A clip of this blunder has been circulating on social media, and to some Trump critics, the speech actually sounded more accurate than ever.
“You’re right,” one person on X wrote. “You were president, and they were laughing at the stupidity of American voters.” Someone else said, “The whole world was laughing at Trump’s embarrassing a– then, just as the whole world is still laughing at him now.”
The rare moment of honesty clearly wasn’t intentional. “It’s funny when he accidentally doesn’t lie,” another person commented.
He did not seem to catch this mistake.
Donald Trump knows he was President a year ago, right? https://t.co/y3RQGiFNXg
— Congressman Shri Thanedar (@RepShriThanedar) April 17, 2026
After he said that the country was an embarrassment “a year ago,” he kept talking, clearly not thinking about who was in power in April 2025. It did not go unnoticed by anyone online. Congresswoman Katherine Clark shared the clip on X and wrote, “Yeah. You were an embarrassment then, and you still are.” And Congressman Shri Thanedar said, “Donald Trump knows he was President a year ago, right?”
Even if he does know that, he seemed blissfully unaware of it while speaking at the event. Trump went on to claim, “They’re not laughing anymore. I don’t think anybody—just ask those—I don’t want to be a wise guy. I don’t want to speak too soon. But we do very well. You notice that we’re doing very well, and I will say the war in Iran is going along swimmingly. We can do whatever we want. And it should be ending pretty soon.” He also described the war as “perfect.”
People have been waiting for him to stop blaming Biden for everything.
Technically, he finally deviated from that, even if it was only an accident. The mistake has also drawn attention to the fact that Trump has been president for more than a year now, and yet, the Trump administration is still mentioning the Biden administration on a regular basis. At what point is Trump going to update his speeches? Saying “two years ago, our country was an embarrassment” or “three years ago, our country was an embarrassment” doesn’t exactly have the same ring to it, does it?
Back in March, when Trump had already been president for more than a year, Vice President JD Vance really tried to blame Biden for surging gas prices. At the time, Vance said, “Joe Biden left us in a terrible situation, and the reason why gas prices are where they are today is because of Donald Trump’s work to get them lower, because in the Biden administration, they were crazy high.”
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