US President Donald Trump made a significant blunder during a live television address, mistakenly referring to tech billionaire Elon Musk as 'Leon'. The 80-year-old politician was discussing Starlink when he said, 'My friend Leon,' before correcting himself: 'My friend Elon is going to be very happy.'
The incident quickly went viral on social media, with many expressing worry about the President's mental state. One user wrote: 'TRUMP SUFFERS MAJOR COGNITIVE SLIP ON LIVE TV. Trump just FORGOT Elon’s name, calling him LEON. Elon has been one of Trump’s biggest allies for years. This might be Trump’s biggest mental slip yet.'
Another commented: 'Yeah he’s slipping hard,' while a third added: 'MAGA can’t seriously think that he’s ok. They made fun of Joe Biden for looking sleepy, but he sounds confused, is falling asleep in public and meetings, and there is evidence of his hands and ankles being swollen.'
However, some defended Trump. One person argued: 'Keep up. He’s done this many times and has called him Leon for years. I’m guessing this is an older clip cause that would be about right.' Another said: 'A mispronounced name is embarrassing, but calling it a major cognitive slip may be a stretch.'
The gaffe comes days after Trump's speech at the G7 summit in France was described as 'strange' and 'quite rambling in parts' by GB News presenter Bev Turner. She noted: 'He's clearly suffering from a head cold, he's clearly very tired. Some parts of this speech were very awkward. You could see the faces of Howard Lutnick and Marco Rubio in the background. At times they did look like they were trying to suppress perhaps a rising panic that he was going off script a little bit too much.'
