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Trump struggles to pronounce the word ‘statistics’ at wild Colorado rally

President addresses raucous crowd and decries Democrats, ‘deep state’ and media

Andrew Naughtie
Friday 21 February 2020 04:35 EST
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Trump struggles with pronunciation at Colorado rally

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Speaking to supporters at a rally in Colorado Springs, Donald Trump repeatedly stumbled over the word ‘statistics’ – and then complained about coverage of his pronunciation.

“I’m telling you, within a very short period of time you’re gonna see some statics, some sa-tiks-tics coming out on – STA-TIS-TICS, I gotta do it right.

“Otherwise they’ll say ‘what’s wrong?’ You know, if you go 16 of these, and if you mispronounce one word they say ‘what’s wrong?’”

“Sta-tis-tics. For women, that are gonna be unbelievable, they’re gonna be unbelievable!”

Later in the rally, Mr Trump riffed again on coverage of his speeches: “You don’t like to mispronounce a word, like, you come to a great place like this, and instead of calling it Fort Carson you call it Fort Crason, and they say ‘this guy doesn’t know anything about us.’ Now a lot of money going into Fort Carson, it’s great.”

Mr Trump has often stumbled with his diction. At another rally on 19 February, he substituted “privit” for “prison” and “neonetical" for "neonatal”.

At both rallies he was reading from a teleprompter, something he has previously blamed for mishaps in public speeches.

At an Independence Day event in 2019, he said the Continental Army “took over the airports” during the American Revolutionary War in the 1770s, then chalked the error up to the teleprompter going “kaput” in the rain.

Mr Trump is currently holding a series of rallies across the country, with upcoming appearances in Nevada and the Carolinas. Addressing the crowds, he has repeatedly railed against the Democratic presidential candidates, the “fake news media”, and Hillary Clinton – with some of his supporters chanting “lock her up”.

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