Overview

Donald Trump's Colorado Wall refers to a possible gaffe made by United States President Donald Trump, when he announced that he would be building a wall around the state of Colorado. Online, many mocked the president for mistaking Colorado's location as being at the U.S.-Mexico border. President Trump later stated that made the comment in jest, referring to the large crowds that visited him in Colorado and Kansas.

Background

On October 23rd, 2019, speaking to the Shale Insight Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, President Trump said, "You know why we're going to win New Mexico? Because they want safety on their border. And they didn't have it. And we're building a wall on the border of New Mexico and we're building a wall in Colorado. We're building a beautiful wall, a big one that really works -- you can't get over, you can't get under. And we're building a wall in Texas. And we're not building a wall in Kansas, but they get the benefit of the walls that we just mentioned. And Louisianna's incredible."^[1]

That day, The Hill published an isolated clip of the comment. The tweet received more than 1 million views, 3,000 likes and 1,500 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below).

President Trump: "We're building a wall on the border of New Mexico and we're building a wall in Colorado." pic.twitter.com/f9ZIdxOhXt

— The Hill (@thehill) October 23, 2019

Developments

Online Reaction

During the speech, CNN reporter Daniel Dale tweeted,^[2] "Alert: The president said a couple minutes ago, 'We're building a wall in Colorado. We're building a beautiful wall. A big one that really works.'" The tweet received more than 6,000 likes and 2,000 retweets in 24 hours (shown below).

Many mocked the president for his comments, believing that he may have mistaken Colorado's location within the United States. Senator Patrick Leahy tweeted^[3] a map of the United States that had been altered by a Sharpie marker, a reference to Donald Trump's Hurricane Dorian Map Sharpie Edit. The tweet received more than 93,000 likes and 28,000 retweets in 24 hours (shown below, left).

Colorado Governor Jared Polis tweeted,^[4] "Well this is awkward …Colorado doesn’t border Mexico. Good thing Colorado now offers free full day kindergarten so our kids can learn basic geography." Within 24 hours, the tweet received more than 42,000 likes and 11,000 retweets (shown below, center).

Throughout the day, other continued to mock the president by posting images of maps and highlighting the location of Colorado (example below, right).

President Trump responded to the reaction. He tweeted,^[5] "(Kiddingly) We’re building a Wall in Colorado'(then stated, 'we’re not building a Wall in Kansas but they get the benefit of the Wall we’re building on the Border') refered to people in the very packed auditorium, from Colorado & Kansas, getting the benefit of the Border Wall!" The tweet received more than 50,000 likes and 10,000 retweets in 24 hours (shown below).

Media Coverage

Several media outlets covered the comments, including CNN,^[6] Uproxx,^[7] CBS,^[8] The New York Times,^[9] NBC,^[10] Business Insider^[11] and more.

Search Interest

External References