/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66239051/1203672265.jpg.0.jpg)
President Donald Trump responded to the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl victory on Sunday night by commending them for doing such a great job — on behalf of people living in the next state over.
The Chiefs play in Kansas City, Missouri. But shortly after the game ended, Trump posted a tweet lauding the team for how they “represented the Great State of Kansas.”
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19666959/EP0jLVrX4AETNx1.jpg)
Trump deleted the tweet within a matter of moments and posted a corrected one a short time later.
Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs on a great game and a fantastic comeback under immense pressure. We are proud of you and the Great State of Missouri. You are true Champions!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2020
Still, he was roundly dragged for making such a basic error in the first place, including by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI):
LOL Senate Republicans passing a “Sense of the Senate Resolution” that the Chiefs belong to Kansas too and then pundits being all “but the city does straddle two states.” And then the NYT editorials being all “Democrats Lack Civility in Kansas Misunderstanding.”
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) February 3, 2020
And by others who joked about Trump once again breaking out his Sharpie in a ham-handed effort to correct an error:
Trump's sharpie was busy tonight. He just released this new map of Kansas pic.twitter.com/xOV84LWRnY
— Adam Blickstein (@AdamBlickstein) February 3, 2020
Even the Kansas City, Missouri, police department had a bit of fun with the situation:
Now that everyone is paying attention to Kansas City, it seems people are confused: We're from MISSOURI. Check our profile pic - It's our Missouri-shaped patch.
— Kansas City Police (@kcpolice) February 3, 2020
Trump’s mistake obviously isn’t the end of the world, even if it did betray a tragicomical level of ignorance about the country he’s governing. But if you thought that getting such a basic fact wrong would be impossible even for Fox & Friends to defend, think again.
Steve Doocy, host of the president’s favorite morning show, brought up the tweet but tried to explain Trump’s error away.
“Kansas City is in Kansas and it is also in Missouri ... [It’s like when] people call them the New York Giants, but they’re in New Jersey,” Doocy said, referring to the fact that the New York Giants football team actually plays in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Steve Doocy defends Trump's tweet congratulating Kansas for the Kansas City Chiefs winning the Super Bowl: "Kansas City is in Kansas and it is also in Missouri. ... [It's like when] people call them the New York Giants, but they're in New Jersey." pic.twitter.com/tQFd5KlTy8
— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) February 3, 2020
While it’s true that there’s a Kansas City, Kansas, just across the Missouri River from the much larger Kansas City, Missouri, the Chiefs are based in Missouri and have been since 1963. They’ve never played in Kansas. This isn’t a distinction that casual NFL watchers or knowers of Midwestern geography typically get wrong. So Doocy’s Spicer-esque explanation for Trump’s tweet doesn’t really hold water — and he wasn’t the only MAGA enthusiast to use that talking point.
We live in the dumbest of times. https://t.co/75Gsmu2wUW
— Anthony Michael Kreis (@AnthonyMKreis) February 3, 2020
The irony of Trump messing up such a basic geographical fact is that just a week ago, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in the news for challenging a reporter who asked him questions he didn’t like to locate Ukraine on an unmarked map. It appears he should save a geography lesson or two for his boss.
The news moves fast. To stay updated, follow Aaron Rupar on Twitter, and read more of Vox’s policy and politics coverage.