Former President Donald Trump was widely mocked after including the phrase "cease & assist" in a rant accusing Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, of "stealing" swing states in what he is once again calling a "rigged" election.
Trump's accusation came on the eve of tonight's presidential debate, setting the stage for, though not unexpected, a litany of attacks against Harris designed to undermine her extensive legislative record and history of leadership.
He wrote the following message on Truth Social in which he baselessly branded her a "Marxist":
"THEY'RE TRYING TO STEAL EVERY SWING STATE—THEY'VE GOT PEOPLE VOTING FOR MARXIST KAMALA! TOTAL DISGRACE, NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT!!"
Then, the typo:
"THIS ELECTION IS RIGGED, I SHOULD WIN—NOT HER, NOT EVEN CLOSE. UNBELIEVABLE!! CEASE AND ASSIST! NO ONE SHOULD BE ALLOWED."
The proper phrase is "Cease and desist," which refers to a legally binding directive issued by a court or government agency, requiring an individual or entity to halt a specific activity, a phrase Trump likely has seen much of given the seemingly endless array of lawsuits against him for attacking private citizens, lashing out at corporate entities, promoting election fraud conspiracies, and playing hit songs during his rallies without authorization.
You can see his post below.
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
People caught his error immediately—and criticized him without hesitation.
Trump is no stranger to spelling mistakes, and his frequent typos have been a source of humor and criticism during his time in the political spotlight.
From "Shoebiz" to "hamberders," Trump's spelling errors have often made headlines and provided late-night hosts with comedic material. His former X feed, in particular, has been fertile ground for these linguistic mishaps, including the infamous "covfefe" incident.
In 2019, CNN's Reliable Sources decided to dig deeper into Trump's spelling blunders and enlisted the help of Factba.se, a website that meticulously tracks every word spoken by Trump and other politicians. The goal was to compile a comprehensive list of Trump's misspellings to shed light on the extent of the issue.
CNN's Brian Stelter acknowledged that everyone makes spelling mistakes but noted that Trump's frequency of errors surpasses that of most people. While it may not be the most significant issue in the world, Stelter emphasized the importance of accuracy, particularly for the President of the United States.
Factba.se researchers took on the task of identifying and cataloging Trump's misspelled words. They chose to focus on the quantity and absurdity of the errors rather than minor punctuation mistakes. Their findings revealed that Trump had made 188 misspellings on Twitter since taking office, averaging roughly one misspelling every five days.
Of course, there have been many more since CNN's study—and they seem to have become more frequent as Trump continues to deal with the many criminal cases against him.
Associated Press
@melissagilbertofficial/Instagram