Spicer flubs our PM’s name,
Sean Spicer has been mocked for slips of the tongue before
WASHINGTON— Donald Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, had a lot on his mind at the start of his daily briefing Tuesday. Which may explain what he called Canada’s prime minister. Joe. Spicer used much of his opening statement to explain the forced resignation of Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn. Before he let reporters begin grilling him on the Flynn fiasco, he found a bit of time to mention Trump’s Monday meeting with Justin Trudeau.
Whether it was mistaken identity or just another Spicer stumble, he did not say “Justin Trudeau.”
“Yesterday the president set — had an incredibly productive set of meetings and discussions with Prime Minster Joe Trudeau of Canada,” he said, “focusing on our shared commitment to close co-operation in addressing both the challenges facing our two countries and the problems throughout the world.
“Our countries share a profound economic interest, with more than $2 billion in two-way trade flowing across our border every day.”
Spicer is not the smoothest-spoken of professional spokespeople, and some observers said they heard an aborted “Ju-,” as in Justin or judo, rather than a real “Joe.”
Spicer was mocked in Australia in early February for pronouncing the name of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull “Malcolm Trumble.”
Spicer has faced mockery for his slips of the tongue, deliberate deceit and attacks on the reporters asking him questions. This was his second curious remark related to Canada. In late January, he cited the terrorist attack on Muslims at a Quebec mosque to justify Trump’s travel ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries.
Trump’s chaos-plagued young ad- ministration has been struggling with basic tasks such as identifying foreign leaders correctly. It has called U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May “Teresa,” called the president of Colombia the president of “Columbia” and called the prime minister of Australia the president of Australia.
Canadian officials are unlikely to be upset about the “Joe” gaffe. Joe from Canada is featured in Molson advertisements, after all. Perhaps more significantly, Spicer adopted one of the Canadian Embassy’s favourite talking points — the $2 billion in daily trade — as his own.