Image: Twitter/@2020fight
The United States President Donald Trump garnered mixed reactions online after photos of him coloring the American flag wrong surfaced and got circulated in social media.
The flag-coloring incident happened during his and First Lady Melania’s visit to a children’s hospital in Ohio last week.
“The opioid crisis is one of our top priorities at [Health and Human Services] HHS, with a drumbeat of action on the full range of efforts where we can assist local communities,” wrote HHS secretary Alex Azar on Twitter last Friday, Aug. 24. “Today, I joined @POTUS [Trump] and @FLOTUS [Melania] in Ohio to learn how states and communities are responding to the challenge of opioid addiction.”
The opioid crisis is one of our top priorities at HHS, with a drumbeat of action on the full range of efforts where we can assist local communities. Today, I joined @POTUS & @FLOTUS in Ohio to learn how states and communities are responding to the challenge of opioid addiction. pic.twitter.com/NwxSoeNznA
— Alex Azar (@SecAzar) August 25, 2018
Accompanying Azar’s post are three photos of him, Melania and Trump alongside the children in the hospital. Upon closer inspection of the last photo featuring the unfinished American flag in front of Trump, one can see that one of the 13 stripes was colored blue instead of the supposed alternating red and white.
One netizen, Talia (@2020flight), took note of the faux pas and reposted the photo on Twitter. “The President has colored his flag wrong. That is all,” she said.
https://twitter.com/2020fight/status/1033162713378127873
In another tweet, she uploaded a photo of Trump coloring the flag’s stripe blue, while saying, “Proof it’s real.”
https://twitter.com/2020fight/status/1033170724146442242
Twitter users have mixed reactions upon seeing Trump’s mistake. One netizen, Kate Smith, (@KateSmithAZ) took a jab at the fact that Trump makes use of his supporters’ patriotism to further his cause, yet is unable to properly color their flag which is a patriotic symbol itself.
https://twitter.com/KateSmithAZ/status/1033363197800067072
“Every immigrant or the people from [Trump’s so-called] “S***hole Countries” know better,” commented another netizen, Roger Lutz (@sxmroger). “Sorry U.S.A. you got the most stupid person as president. The U.S.A is the clown of all United Nations.”
Some Twitter users theorized that Trump was probably coloring the flag based on the colors in the flags of the Netherlands and Russia.
I was unaware there was a United States of the Netherlands. pic.twitter.com/EMbAd51U8p
— Leon Kums (@g8erlaw68) August 25, 2018
It’s alright. He’s just coloring the flag the way HE thinks it should be😳 pic.twitter.com/1MsVGAjF9c
— Skip Awesome (@SkipAwesome) August 27, 2018
While some were not impressed with Trump’s faux pas, others found the incident hilarious.
Just burst out laughing because Trump is in my state rn, and there’s a picture of him coloring the flag w kids and IDK WHAT COUNTRYS FLAG HE’S COLORING BUT IT AINT OURS 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/W0uuNkojsq
— Voodoo Mama Juju (@fabf0rce) August 25, 2018
Trump fails at coloring the American flag. Earns major kindergarten side-eye: pic.twitter.com/7ZzgjpwWXe
— Lorelei Armstrong (@fusepark) August 25, 2018
One netizen, Perfect Pour (@counteroffive), pointed out that what made Trump’s mistake entertaining was that the U.S. President was wearing a flag pin on his lapel.
All the more entertaining when you consider he’s wearing a flag pin on his lapel
— Perfect Pour (@counteroffives) August 28, 2018
But Trump’s supporters were quick to defend the President, saying it was not a big deal because he had been coloring along with children.
https://twitter.com/sackingsfan123/status/1033815174765932544
He’s coloring with kids. It’s not that serious. https://t.co/vsJOxjtwqh
— Mew (@_myranda95_) August 25, 2018
Some of his supporters said that Trump probably purposely colored the flag’s stripe blue to commemorate fallen law enforcement officers. It is worth noting, however, that the blue line identifier they were talking about is marked by a thin blue horizontal line on a black and white American flag.
Deserves a break on this one. @POTUS was likely teaching the kids about the "Thin Blue Line" flag which has surfaced recently, an homage to fallen law enforcement officers.https://t.co/2HoEbH6ao4 pic.twitter.com/B2dPCFCobB
— Michael Linder (@michaellinder) August 28, 2018
https://twitter.com/WethepeopleT/status/1033603403321159680
The White House has yet to comment or issue an official statement on the matter, as of this writing. JB
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