During his "A Salute to America" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Donald Trump said that troops "took over airports" during the Revolutionary War. Of course, said war occurred between 1775–1783, a time in which there were no airports.
"Our Army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do, and at Fort McHenry, under the rocket’s red glare it had nothing but victory," Trump incorrectly stated. In addition to the whole aviation thing, the Fort McHenry battle that Trump mentioned occurred in Baltimore during the War of 1812.
Read a longer excerpt of Trump's speech, via USA Today, below and scroll down a bit further for clips.
"In June of 1775, the Continental Congress created a unified Army out of the Revolutionary Forces encamped around Boston and New York, and named after the great George Washington, commander in chief. The Continental Army suffered a bitter winter of Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown.
Y’all, Y’ALL, he said our army took over the airports during the....
Wait for it.....
Revolutionary War 😐pic.twitter.com/vt6A8A9mh4
As @kendallybrown points out, Trump, while struggling to read in this clip, claims that the American military "took over the airports" during a battle that took place well before airplanes were even invented pic.twitter.com/DiJDLWcDYb
Trump also promised that a U.S. flag will be put on Mars during the speech.
Trump: "We are going to be back on the Moon very soon and someday soon, we will plant the American flag on Mars" pic.twitter.com/QuzTDtV2cm
