Donald Trump referring to himself in third person while reading teleprompter at NRA event draws criticism

DALLAS, TEXAS: Donald Trump faced backlash after an awkward moment during his speech at the National Rifle Association (NRA) event on Saturday, May 18.

The former president's reliance on his teleprompter during the NRA annual meeting led to a bizarre instance where he referred to himself in the third person, according to OK Magazine.

Donald Trump's teleprompter flub at National Rifle Association event

In a viral clip posted to X (formerly Twitter) by Joe Biden's campaign, Trump is seen saying, “Yes oh yes and quickly says President Trump.”

“I am. No, I really am. I don’t want him coming in like the State of the Union. He was high as a kite,” said the former president.

He then dramatically looked up at the sky and continued, “I said, ‘Is that Joe up there?'”

“We’re gonna demand a drug test,” he added.

Donald Trump and Joe Biden's upcoming presidential debates

The 77-year-old politician's teleprompter flub comes at a critical time as the Trump and Biden campaigns have recently confirmed the dates for their upcoming presidential debates.

Scheduled for June 27 and September 10, the debates will not be traditional as it will not feature a live audience and the candidate not recognized to speak will have his microphone cut.

Following the debate date announcements, political reporter Alex Thompson of Axios claimed that White House advisors are divided over the decision to proceed with the unprecedented planning of the events.

"I have to be honest with you. Basically, there are some advisers, and you saw Nancy Pelosi sort of speak to this yesterday when she said that she would advise nobody to get on a stage with Donald Trump, but the president has decided what he wants to do," said Thompson.

"Now, some of his advisers think he’s going to be fine, but there are definitely some people in the Biden camp that don’t see that, that basically see this as more risky than not," he added.

Donald Trump slammed over teleprompter flub

Reacting to Trump referring to himself in the third person while reading the teleprompter at the NRA event, one user on X wrote, "Drug test please!" while another user tweeted, "He has been doing this for a long time."

"It's over. Bro, you should probably go recover," a netizen commented while another user remarked, "Next he'll be reading 'pause for wild applause'."

One user wrote, "He's been in the third person for years," and a netizen tweeted, "When's that first debate? I need to buy popcorn before it's all gone."

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