Historical flub lands in Trump speech

Airports? In the 1700s? A historical flub landed in President Donald Trump's "Salute to America" speech on Thursday marking the US Independence Day holiday.

While praising the victories of the Continental Army over the British during the 1775-1783 Revolutionary War, Trump mentioned how it "took over the airports." There were, of course, no airports in the 1770s, not to mention airplanes, which were not invented until the 1900s. Trump read his prepared speech from a teleprompter behind a bulletproof lectern streaked with rain and that may explain the clumsy reference.

Trump also appeared to mix up the Revolutionary War with the War of 1812. While talking about the Revolutionary War, Trump mentioned the "rocket's red glare" which inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem which became The Star-Spangled Banner. He wrote it after watching the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British in 1814.

Trump mostly stuck to his prepared text during a nearly hour-long "Fourth of July" speech that repeatedly lauded the US armed forces and stayed out of the partisan territory.