Truth In Satire

Trump Incorrectly States That Iran And Iraq “Would Be One Country If They Had Agreed On The Spelling”

“Iraq wanted to go with a ‘q,’ while Iran chose to stick with ‘n,’ and that’s why these two great nations are separate,” Trump said

Allan Ishac
Extra Newsfeed
Published in
2 min readJan 9, 2020

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The president weaved a tall tale that left reporters and his aides confused. (Credit: www.marketwatch.com)

During a White House appearance on Wednesday to discuss the Iranian bombing of American military bases in Iraq, the president meandered into a fanciful, false history of how the two Middle Eastern nations came to be.

“A lot of people don’t know this, but most of the tensions between Iraq and Iran began with a spelling dispute,” said the president, surrounded by top advisers, including VP Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper, all looking confused. “You see, Iraq wanted to go with a ‘q’ because they thought it was more unique, while Iran chose to stick with the ‘n’ thinking that spelling was easier. They had a big fight about it—this was forty or fifty years ago—and, in the end, became enemies. Otherwise, they probably would have been the same country.”

While Iraq and Iran share a 900-mile border, they were never the same country. (Credit: www.wilsoncenter.org)

None of the presidents facts were correct. He appeared to completely fabricate the entire story merely because he was bored reading the teleprompter speech prepared for him.

At one point he asked a CNN reporter to spell “Iraq,” and then turned to an NBC correspondent to spell “Iran.”

After they did, he said, “See, see how close they are in spelling? I just noticed it the other day and then Pompeo cleared it up about how the letters got all jumbled and how they became two different countries.”

Behind the president, a clearly irked Mike Pompeo nevertheless nodded in agreement with the president in a forced show of unity.

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–AI

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Allan Ishac
Extra Newsfeed

Author of The Mystic In The Mews (themysticinthemews.com). Satirist. Humor writer. Former advertising creative director. Visit me at allanishac.com.