President Donald Trump is on a whirlwind tour across the country, desperately trying to help embattled Republicans stay in office.
Over the past week, he spoke in Ohio, Texas, Nebraska, Alabama, and Oklahoma. He easily won most of these reliably red states in the 2024 presidential election.
At these rallies, he accused Democrats of inventing the affordability crisis and called it a “hoax.” He acknowledged that his ongoing war on Iran has raised gas and energy prices. But he argued that achieving a nuclear-free Iran justifies those costs.
He also attacked Democrats as they gained ground in red-state polls—something they couldn’t have dreamed of two years ago.
But at a rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, on Monday, Trump’s attempt at insulting a bitter political enemy fell embarrassingly flat when he forgot that foe’s name.
“Probably, and I’ve known some bad governors, probably, the worst governor in history is Jim Walz,” Trump told the crowd, which just stared back at him.
Minnesota’s governor is Tim Walz, not Jim Walz.
“Imagine forgetting someone’s first name and immediately writing their biography. Trump’s memory may be buffering, but the insults are still loading at full speed,” an X user pointed out in disgust.
Another joked, “Ope, looks like the dementia is acting up again. Gotta get grandpa off stage before he starts saying slurs LOL.”
Another commenter used just two words to describe Trump’s flub.
“Good lord.”
This X user declared, “Rich coming from the worst president in history.”
One of the biggest fights between Trump and Walz, Kamala Harris’ former vice presidential candidate, revolves around Trump’s deadly immigration crackdown.
Since he retook office, he’s been sending the National Guard into mostly Democratic-led states and cities, including Minnesota. Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, killed two Americans, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, early this year in Minneapolis. The murders set off a wave of protests that sent ICE packing.
Then Trump tried to subpoena Walz in a so-called immigration enforcement probe, but a judge put the kibosh on that in June.
This isn’t the first time Trump has forgotten or mixed up names.
Back in August, when he endorsed a Republican candidate to challenge his bitter enemy, New York Attorney General Letitia James, he drew a complete blank.
“Where the hell are you… Ma’am? Where are you?” Trump called from the podium at an event on Long Island as law enforcement officials looked on. He tried to play it off as he scanned the audience and pointed to someone but never uttered the woman’s moniker.
Her name is Saritha Komatireddy, a former federal prosecutor with an extensive résumé.
In 2024, Trump said Nikki Haley’s name when he was clearly talking about Nancy Pelosi and her response to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
At a NATO summit in July, he referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “President Putin” before appearing to catch himself. He also referred to Iran as the “Islamic Republic of Japan” and repeatedly mispronounced TikTok as “tic tac.”
These repeated gaffes often spark questions about Trump’s mental health and fitness for office. At 80, Trump is the oldest person ever to assume the office of U.S. president. He was 78 and seven months old during his January 2025 inauguration.