Donald Trump Congratulated The Wrong State After Super Bowl Win

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You’d think if you were the President of the United States, you’d double – no, triple – check everything you put out to the world on social media.

No, scratch that. You’d most likely have a member of staff check everything you put out just to make sure you don’t make an embarrassing mistake like, oh I don’t know, congratulating the wrong state after the biggest sporting event of the year.

Which is exactly what Donald Trump did last night, February 2, after the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-20 in the Super Bowl, taking home the Vince Lombardi trophy for the first time in more than 50 years.

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The president took to Twitter to congratulate the newly crowned NFL champions, applauding them for representing not only the ‘Great State of Kansas’ but the entire country.

He wrote:

Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs on a great game, and a fantastic comeback, under immense pressure. You represented the Great State of Kansas and, in fact, the entire USA, so very well. Our Country is PROUD OF YOU!

Which would have been an absolutely fine tweet to send out – and certainly his most inoffensive – but for one tiny detail: the Kansas City Chiefs aren’t based in Kansas, and never have been.

Nope. The Kansas City Chiefs are actually based in Missouri, as they have been for the past 60 years. But hey, no biggie right? After all, it’s only the President of the United States not knowing where in the United States a city is located.

realDonaldTrump/Twitter

Now, in fairness, there are technically two Kansas Cities: one in Missouri and one in Kansas. However, when you take a look at a map – which you’d think would surely be a requirement of the job for the US president – it’s relatively simple to understand.

Although Kansas City includes a state line that separates it into two parts, with parts of the Kansas City metropolitan area crossing the state line into Kansas, it is Missouri’s largest city and is renowned for hosting the Chiefs at the Arrowhead Stadium.

And while the mistake might be an easy mistake for the average Joe like you and I to make, who perhaps don’t live in the United States, it’s a whole different story when it comes from the man who is supposed to run the country.

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Trump was quick to delete his tweet after many of his followers began pointing out his mistake, re-posting it minutes later with the correct state. Despite this, it was too little too late for many, who weren’t letting him off that easily.

Especially as someone predicted Trump’s geographical slip before it even happened:

Former Missouri senator Claire McCaskill screenshotted Trump’s tweet and wrote: ‘It’s Missouri you stone cold idiot.’ Another person referenced the president’s Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, who recently attempted to embarrass a reporter by asking if she knew where Ukraine was on a map. Pompeo is from Kansas.

A couple of people joked that soon Trump will hold a press conference in which he ‘waves around a map in [the] Oval Office showing that Kansas City is, in fact, in Kansas’, after the president was accused of doctoring a Hurricane Dorian forecast map with a Sharpie to support his false claim it would hit Alabama.

At this point, it honestly wouldn’t surprise me if that’s what happens and I find myself writing a follow-up article about it.

Just check back with us in a few hours to find out.

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Lucy Connolly

A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).