Oops, Trump misspells PH

The screengrab from @realDonaldTrump, the verified Twitter account of US President Donald Trump, shows the misspelled name of the Philippines. FROM @REALDONALDTRUMP

There are many ways one could misspell the “Philippines” that even US President Donald Trump isn’t safe from committing the mistake.

Ahead of his first visit to the country on Sunday as head of state, Trump misspelled the Philippines on his Twitter account (@realDonaldTrump), the latest in a list of gaffes he made on the social networking site.

“Will be doing a joint press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam then heading for final destination of trip, the Phillipines,” Trump posted at 7:35 a.m.

Trump attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in Vietnam. He is expected to arrive later today in the Philippines for the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit, the last leg of his 12-day trip to Asia.

He arrived at 5:45 p.m. in the Philippines.

As of 9 p.m. on Sunday, the error has not been corrected. Though in his tweet on arriving at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, he already spelled the Philippines correctly.

Trump’s misspelling comes just days after Asean organizers themselves drew flak for committing the same mistake on the tarpaulin streamers set up to welcome the 7,000 summit delegates.

The tarps carrying the word “Philppines” have since been taken down. While organizers said they are investigating the gaffe, they noted that these were neither distributed by the Presidential Communications and Operations Office, the Philippine Information Agency nor by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

In December last year, Trump misspelled the word unprecedented when he protested against China’s act in international waters.

“China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters – rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented act,” he wrote.

In May, he tweeted an incomplete criticism of the media that trailed off with “covfefe” to the bewilderment of the public. The tweet stayed on his feed, followed by 42 million Twitter users, for around six hours.

In a September speech to African leaders, Trump mispronounced Namibia and called it Nambia. Comedians naturally poked fun of Trump’s error in several late night shows in the US. /cbb