Donald Trump appears to FORGET national anthem hours after demanding respect for song
DONALD Trump appeared to forget the words to the US national anthem when he was filmed mumbling and missing lines from the Star-Spangled Banner just hours after demanding “respect” for the song.
The US President was seen stood looking on in silence during parts of the song, sung before a college American football game between the University of Georgia and the University of Alabama.
As the stadium sung along with the words, Donald Trump appeared stumped one verse in, standing silently but occasionally finishing the second half of lines as he stood alongside members of the military.
It comes after a long-running row over whether protests should be held during the national anthem, following a movement which has seen dozens of high-profile National Football League players kneel on one knee against police brutality against black men.
BBC
Yesterday, before attending the game, Mr Trump took to Twitter to double down on his campaign against peaceful protest during national anthems.
He tweeted: “We are fighting for our farmers, for our country, and for our GREAT AMERICAN FLAG. We want our flag respected - and we want our NATIONAL ANTHEM respected also!”
And he also took aim at protesters demonstrating against police shootings against unarmed black men.
He said: “There's plenty of space for people to express their views and to protest, but we love our flag and we love our anthem and we want to keep it that way.”
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But these words appeared to ring hollow just hours later during his patchy singing performance.
Twitter exploded as incredulous and angry users took aim at the US president, accusing him of gross hypocrisy.
One user said: “One thing is very obvious here. Trump doesn’t know the words to the national anthem! SAD! He’s mumbling them.”
Another said: “That Trump spent months railing against black NFL players peacefully demonstrating during our national anthem, only for it to be shown that he doesn’t even know the words to our national anthem… that really just ties it all up neatly with bow, doesn’t it?”
BBC
And a third said: “Super obvious Trump doesn’t know the words to our National Anthem.
"Disgraceful for any president, but particularly bad given his months of race-baiting rants against NFL players kneeling to demand justice.”
Mr Trump was greeted by a mixture of boos and cheers during his appearance at the game, with one video posted on social media capturing what appears to be an Alabama football player shouting “f*** Trump” as he walked through the corridors to the field.
