Tuesday, 02 January 2024 12:17 GMT

Donald Trump Struggles To Pronounce Name Of IVF Drug, Compensates With Self-Deprecating Humour: Viral Video Wins Hearts


(MENAFN- Live Mint) A consistent feature of Donald Trump's second presidency has been gaffes, with the US President regularly confusing the names of countries he claims to have helped in securing truces.

On Friday, Trump continued this streak, but this time, the gaffe was more medical than geographical in nature.

While announcing policy changes to make in vitro fertilization (IVF) more affordable, the US President had a tough time pronouncing the name of fertility drug Pergoveris, leading to a genuinely comical moment during his press conference.

Speaking from The White House, Trump began on a solemn note: "...We're working with the company to expedite the review and approval of another common fertility IVF drug, and currently it's selling in Europe... (sic)," said the US President before furnishing other details.

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Finishing the sentence, however, took considerable effort from the 79-year-old.

"...It's Pergo-verious...Per-go-verous. That's...Pergoverous (sic)," Trump said, evidently struggling to get the pronunciation right.

Having attempted to get the name right thrice, Trump immediately turned to an unseen person in the video, asking, "Why can't you name them nice, simple names? Nice, easy names?"

The US President's struggle to get the name right, and his candid question right afterwards elicited a hearty laugh from all those in attendance, before the briefing continued.

As people laughed, Trump waved his hand dismissively at his own question and continued, "It doesn't matter. If it works, that's all we care about, right?"

How did social media react to Trump's gaffe?

While Trump's struggle to get the pronunciation of Pergoveris right didn't "matter" in the larger scheme of things, as he rightly said, it nonetheless caught the attention of social media users and quickly went viral.

As the video did the rounds, people wondered whether the US President was even briefed before the presser.

"You would think someone in his own team would brief him before he speaks," wrote one user, while another wondered, "Do they ever prepare him?”

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Despite the gaffe, however, Trump's candid admission of his struggle and the self-deprecating humour sat well with most users, and many came to the US President's defence, recounting how they themselves often struggled with pronouncing the names of prescription drugs that they used.

"How many people have said this exact same thing when trying to read the name of a prescription drug, I know I have," wrote one user.

"Yeah, I was getting a cancer drug that I could never pronounce. It was PEMB something," another added.

Social media users also praised Trump for making mistakes that people usually do on a regular basis, and lauded him for 'keeping it real'.

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"Don't listen to anyone giving him crap over this. I am a nurse and we can't say half these drug names either. You should hear us in the back with the docs sounding this stuff out like some twisted version of Hooked on Phonics," wrote one user.

"Bush would have looked up with a smug look on his face after saying it and Biden would have mumbled his way through it. Only Trump would be self deprecating like that," wrote another.

While Trump's gaffes, particularly in the context of tense geopolitical relations, have often invited ridicule, even from world leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron, this one seems to have won over the internet.

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