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Trump's misspelled note about 'Alcaida' revealed in photo

'Only a person who hasn’t read any newspaper articles or briefing papers in the last 20 years would not know how to spell Al-Qaeda'

Chris Baynes
Tuesday 16 July 2019 12:39 BST
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Donald Trump falsely claims Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar had praised al-Qaeda

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Donald Trump inadvertently exhibited his handwritten notes during a speech, revealing how he planned to attack four Democratic congresswomen – as well as a glaring spelling error which has been ridiculed online.

The US president brandished a piece of paper with a list of prompts during his latest racist rant outside the White House on Monday.

Pictures taken by Washington Post photographer Jabin Botsford showed a scribbled note about “Alcaida”, seemingly a phonetic misspelling of Al-Qaeda.

The note was an apparent reminder to Mr Trump to smear Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who the president falsely accused during his speech of praising the Islamist terror group.

Ms Omar, the Minnesota representative, is one of four Democratic women of colour who have been repeatedly targeted by Mr Trump in recent days.

In his address on Monday, he doubled down on his racist attacks and suggested the congresswomen should “leave right now” instead of “complaining” about the US.

He had previously said: “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” All four are American citizens and three were born in the US.

Mr Trump’s notes, which were mostly typed out and printed, also reminded him to state “this is the greatest country in the world” and that “in the case Ohmar [sic] we saved her from a dangerous situation in Somalia”.

“She came here at 10 years old and is now a Congresswoman. That would ONLY happen in America,” they add.

“It’s so SAD that these women have a record of saying anti-Semitic and anti-American things all the name,” another prompt read. “It’s actually DANGEROUS – because it seems like they hate America.”

Another handwritten note said “some people”, while another appeared to say “Hollywood people”.

But it was Mr Trump’s erroneous spelling of the name of one of the world’s most well-known terror groups which attracted attention on social media.

“Only a person who hasn’t read any newspaper articles or briefing papers in the last 20 years would not know how to spell Al Qaeda,” tweeted journalist Helen Kennedy.

Nada Bakos, a former CIA anaylst, said: “How you know Potus doesn’t read anything the experts provide.”

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