Vice President JD Vance made an unfortunate error during a speech at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, just after bragging about speaking off-the-cuff during his appearances.
“Ma’am I don’t need a teleprompter, I actually got thoughts in my head, unlike Kamala Harris,” he said.
Later during the event, Vance responded to a question from a reporter about Donald Trump’s visit to Arlington Cemetery to mark the third anniversary of the bombing in Abbey Gate, outside Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, during which 13 American soldiers died.
“The families of these poor people who had their loved ones die three years ago at Abbey Road,” Vance said.
Photos of JD Vance and a general view of the ‘Abbey Road Studio’ room is seen at the Beatlemania exhibition on May 28, 2009 in Hamburg, Germany. JD Vance was mocked for saying the bombing in Abbey Gate, Afghanistan happened at Abbey Road which is a famous Beatles album. This came after JD Vance bragged about not needing a teleprompter unlike Kamala Harris.
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“Abbey Road” is a street in London, England, where a recording studio of the same name is located. It’s most famous inspiring the title of the 1969 Beatles album.
JD Vance corrected himself after his mistake saying: “I meant Abbey Gate,” but the moment still spread on social media.
Journalist Ron Filipkowski spliced the two clips together and posted them to X, formerly Twitter, along with the caption, “First half of clip is JD Vance today saying he doesn’t need a teleprompter like Kamala Harris because he’s smart. Second half of clip is him minutes later calling Abbey Gate in Afghanistan ‘Abbey Road,’ which is a Beatles album.”
The clip has received over 1.4 million views in under 24 hours, and generated a lot of discussion as people mocked the timing of Vance’s remarks and made jokes relating to Beatles lyrics.
During his speech, Vance defended Trump’s visit to the memorial service which was heavily criticized, as some people suggested it was disrespectful for him to take video of the event, which he later posted on TikTok. The VP candidate argued that Trump went to the Arlington Cemetary after being invited by the families of the fallen soldiers.
The Pennsylvania rally was one of many taking part in key swing states in the run-up to the election. According to pollster Nate Silver, Pennsylvania has a 38 percent chance of tipping the election.
Kamala Harris currently leads in Pennsylvania by 1.7 per cent, according to polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight. Other polls also give Harris an advantage in other swing states like Nevada or Georgia, Newsweek previously reported.
Erie County in Pennsylvania is one of a few counties in the state that flipped from Republican to Democratic in the 2020 election, helping Joe Biden secure his win.
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