United States President, Donald Trump, has mistakenly referred to India while commenting on Brazil’s presidential election, prompting widespread amusement and criticism on social media.
In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump claimed that “125 Million People voted today in the first round of India’s Presidential Election. The results came out shortly after the vote closed, on the same day.”
The statement appeared to be directed at Brazil, where voters were casting ballots in the first round of a presidential election. Trump used the comparison to criticize the US electoral system, contrasting the speed of Brazil’s reported results with voting processes in places such as Detroit, Philadelphia and California.
He also described US elections as “corrupt.”
Trump’s reference to India was factually incorrect in several respects. India does not elect its president through a direct nationwide popular vote. Instead, the president is chosen by an electoral college made up of elected representatives. The election uses proportional representation through the single transferable vote, with voting conducted by secret ballot.
Brazil heads to presidential run-off
Trump’s post came as Brazil held the first round of its presidential election.
Right-wing Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro is set to face left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a run-off scheduled for October 25, after Bolsonaro Jr performed better than expected in the first round.
Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, received 47 per cent of the vote, narrowly ahead of Lula, who secured 45 per cent.
Social media users react
Trump’s apparent mix-up quickly became a subject of jokes and criticism online, with some users also questioning whether the president was getting sufficient sleep.
“The president doesn’t get enough sleep. He thinks there are 125 million voters in India, a country of 1.4 billion. Brazil bro,” one X user wrote.
Another user joked: “He gonna change the name of Brazil to India tomorrow.”
Others focused on Trump’s misunderstanding of India’s political system.
“Even bigger problem. Indians don’t directly vote for the President. India has a parliamentary form of governance, not a presidential form,” one user wrote.
Another quipped: “Brazil is just India with a different filter.”
Previous geographical mix-ups
The latest error is not the first occasion on which Trump has appeared to confuse countries while speaking publicly.
In July, he referred to Iran as the “Islamic Republic of Japan” while discussing US military operations and tensions with Tehran during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the NATO summit.
While discussing the Patriot missile system and an attack involving the USS Abraham Lincoln, Trump said: “We had 111 missiles shot by the Islamic Republic of Japan. They were shot at the aircraft carrier over a period of about one hour.”
Earlier in January, Trump repeatedly referred to Greenland as Iceland during an address at the World Economic Forum in Davos. His remarks came while discussing Greenland in connection with his longstanding interest in expanding US territorial influence.
The latest India-Brazil mix-up has therefore added another episode to a growing list of geographical errors that have drawn attention to Trump’s public remarks.
