(Twitter)
Donald Trump‘s early Saturday morning tweet highlighted his frequent spelling mistakes, as he used the word “unpresidented” instead of “unprecedented” when talking about the news that China found an unmanned U.S. drone in the South China sea. Trump later deleted the tweet with the misspelled word and reshared the exact same thought, just with the word spelled right.
China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters – rips it out of water and takes it to China in unprecedented act.
On December 15, the Chinese navy found an unmanned U.S. research drone in the South China Sea in international waters. U.S. officials said that the drone was being used only for scientific purposes and was about to be recovered by the USNS Bodwitch, a non-combat vessel, The BBC reported.
China confirmed on December 17 that military officials on both sides were in talks to hand over the drone to the U.S. “According to [our] understanding, the US and Chinese sides are working on appropriately handling this matter through channels between the two militaries,” the Chinese foreign ministry said, reports the BBC.
Al Jazeera reports that the drone was found about 92 km northwest of Subic Bay, near the Philippines. Navy Captain Jeff Davis told reporters on December 16 that the drone was clearly marked as belonging to the U.S. He told reporters that the drone costs around $150,000.
The situation highlights the growing tension between the U.S. and China over Beijing’s military buildup in the South China Sea. A few hours after Trump weighed in on the situation, the Pentagon confirmed that the drone will be returned to the U.S. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told the USA Today that hrough direct engagement with Chinese authorities, we have secured an understanding that the Chinese will return the UUV [unmanned underwater vehicle] to the United States.”
After it was confirmed that the drone will be returned, Trump said China should just keep it.
We should tell China that we don’t want the drone they stole back.- let them keep it!
Obama was asked about the situation during his final press conference and about Trump’s surprising phone call with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen. Obama said that it was a good idea for Trump to take a fresh look at the U.S. foreign policy as it relates to China, just as long as he does it in a “systematic, deliberate, intentional way.”
“…Given the importance of the relationship between United States and China, given how much is at stake in terms of the world economy, national security, our presence in the Asia-Pacific, China’s increasing role in international affairs, there’s probably no bilateral relationship that carries more significance and where there’s also the potential if that relationship breaks down or goes into full conflict mode that everybody is worse off,” Obama told reporters on December 16. “So I think it’s fine for him to take a look at it.”
Although Trump was weighing in on a very serious situation, Twitter users seized on the opportunity to make fun of his misspelling and how quickly he deleted the tweet. “#Unpresidented” was even trending on Twitter in the U.S. Others posted screenshots of the tweet with the incorrect spelling. The way he misspelled the word originally makes it look like he wants to be un-president-ed.
“I know words. I have the best words.”
@realDonaldTrump
Screenshots are forever. Or as Trump would say, fourever. #unpresidented
Someone should let Trump know that when a word in your tweet is underlined in red, it doesn’t mean “tremendous word choice” #unpresidented
Is it too much to ask for a president who can spell? #Unprecedented t.co/CzcXtG7PxH
Of course, this is hardly the first time Trump has had to delete a tweet with a misspelling. In November, for example, he wrote “speaches” instead of “speeches.”