Humiliating blow for Donald Trump as CNN halts show to air full minute of his mistakes

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was defended by the panelists on CNN after she stumbled over a foreign policy question, with the hosts pointing out times Donald Trump has done the same

Donald Trump was ridiculed as CNN dedicated part of its news broadcast to calling out the president’s biggest gaffes.

NewsNight host Abby Phillip, 37, criticized the 79-year-old as she defended Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez following her stumble over a foreign policy question. The New York congresswoman, 36, was asked if the US should help Taiwan if China were to invade while appearing at the Munich Security Conference.

AOC seemed to struggle to find her answer as she was filmed using filler words before giving her response. Many Republicans, including Vice President JD Vance, slammed AOC for stalling as she spoke, but Phillip instead pointed out just some of the times Trump has made embarrassing errors in recent years.

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Speaking on the CNN show on Tuesday, February 17, Phillip said, “A flub for AOC. But the question is also what happens when the president, the actual president of the United States, does very similar things on the world stage? Listen.”

A montage clip of Trump’s biggest gaffes then played. The video started with a clip from April 2016 in which he mixed up 7-Eleven and 9/11, saying, “I watch our police and our firemen down on 7-Eleven, down at the World Trade Center.”

A clip from January 2026 saw the president confuse Greenland and Iceland. He said on stage at the World Economic Forum, “When I told them about Iceland, they loved me. The stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland.”

Trump was also heard unable to pronounce Thailand in an awkward moment from August 2020. “Shifting production to thigh land and to Vietnam,” he said instead.

In another moment from September 2025, the president appeared on Fox News and mixed up Albania and Armenia. “I solve wars that was unsolvable,” he claimed, offering the example, “Azerbaijan and Alabania.”

In another clip, Trump mixed up South Africa and South America, while another video saw him make up a country called Nambia, instead of saying Namibia. The CNN montage ended with a clip of Trump confusing the UK with the EU as he spoke about a trade deal in June last year.

Once the video finished playing, Phillip said, “So look, I’ll give you that AOC probably should have been more ready for that question. But are we gonna really pretend that the actual president of the United States has not made similar or perhaps worse flubs on the global stage?”

Elsewhere in the segment, panelist Leigh McGowan defended AOC and said, “Listen stumbling over your words for 15 seconds is not the same as being incoherent or uneducated on foreign policy. She had a ton of amazing answers in that same interview, which we are not playing in its entirety umm oh uh — which we do not do for the president.”

A clip of the CNN broadcast was shared on X and viewers were quick to criticize Trump. “These aren’t even the bad ones… There are many worse ramblings from him,” one person fumed, suggesting the video montage could have been longer.

Another posted, “AOC stumbles a line and it’s a week‑long symposium. The actual President does a full CNN Gaffe Cinematic Universe on the world stage and everyone’s like, ‘Anyway…’ The double standard is doing parkour.”

“A “flub” is human. What matters is patterns and consequences,” a third viewer pointed out. “If we’re going to nitpick one politician’s words, we should hold the same energy when the president does it — especially on the global stage where it affects diplomacy, markets, and national credibility. Consistency isn’t partisan… it’s accountability.”