President Donald Trump was mocked after he couldn't seem to get the pronunciation of "TikTok" quite right while talking to reporters—and it harkened back to part of his hot mic Access Hollywood tape scandal.
While speaking to reporters, Trump mistakenly referred to the social media platform TikTok as "Tic Tac" twice in quick succession, confusing it with the popular breath mint brand.
He rambled, responding to criticism about new tariffs:
"It was always a Democrat thing, then it became a Trump thing. I think Tic Tac, Joe Rogan was a part of it. Some of the great people I did interviews with were a part of it. But I think Tic Tac... TikTok was also a part of it."
You can hear what he said in the video below.
Observers soon referenced the infamous comments Trump made on the Access Hollywood tape that resurfaced during the 2016 election cycle.
The recording, made in 2005 and leaked to The Washington Post, was published in October 2016—just over a month before Election Day. In the video, Trump is heard recounting an unsuccessful attempt to pursue a married woman before making crude remarks about his ability to kiss and grope women without their consent.
But at this specific point in the footage, Trump, then a reality TV personality, said he needed Tic Tacs before meeting actress Arianne Zucker:
“I better use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her."
People couldn't help but make the connection.
Others just rolled their eyes at the president's latest gaffe.
It was just another day for the stable genius.
After all, Trump has previously been criticized for bragging about acing a so-called intelligence test that was actually just an assessment to check for cognitive impairment, and at one point declared he'd taken the test to prove he is more intelligent than “radical left maniacs.”
In fact, the "intelligence test" Trump bragged about was actually a Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), a widely used screening assessment for detecting cognitive impairment.
MoCA was designed to assess different cognitive domains, including attention and concentration, executive functions, memory, language, visuoconstructional skills, conceptual thinking, calculations, and orientation.
The assessment's questions are simple and ask test subjects to demonstrate if they can remember five words. Critics have stressed that it is unimpressive that Trump can remember five words—namely “person, woman, man, camera, TV”—as he demonstrated at one point on live television. Trump, however, seems to think it is the height of cognitive brilliance.
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