Donald Trump Brags About Beating Enemies With Fighter Jets That Don’t Exist

Donald Trump bragged about “knocking the hell” out of enemies with fighter jets that don’t exist during a speech in North Carolina on Wednesday.
While giving a speech to a crowd at Asheboro, the former president referred to the “Afghanistan disaster,” saying “It’s just not acceptable that something like that could happen,” seemingly referring to the US troops’ withdrawal in 2021 which preceded a rapid takeover by the Taliban.
He said, “These are fighters, they fight with broken, old, obsolete weapons and knives, we have F-16s, we have F-35s, F-32s, and we were knocking the hell out of them, just knocking the hell out of them. It was easy, but I said, what the hell are we doing this for, let’s get the hell out of there, we were getting out with such strength they were so happy they couldn’t believe it.”
The defense publication The National Interest reported that the military jets mentioned by Trump in his speech included the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon and Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning, however there is no such jet as an F-32.
The outlet suggested he may have intended to say “F-22,” referring to the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor air superiority fighter, or X-32, a Boeing aircraft.
The clip circulated on X, formerly Twitter, where some users mocked Trump. One wrote, “Ah yes, the F-32—so stealthy that there’s no record it exists.” Another wrote, “F-32 BROS SOUND THE ALARM WE ARE SO FREAKIN BACK.”
The X account for Kamala Harris’ campaign also posted the video, along with a caption stating that the fighter jet mentioned by Trump doesn’t exist.
The former president has been under fire in recent weeks for seeming to make various mistakes in his speeches. Most recently, he appeared to refer to a crowd as “North Carolina” during a rally in Pennsylvania. He previously claimed to have been on a helicopter ride with the former mayor of San Francisco Willie Brown, who said it never happened, leading to speculation Trump confused him with former California Governor Jerry Brown.
It follows widespread concern about Joe Biden’s cognitive state and fitness for office at the age of 81 when he was the Democratic nominee. Since Biden stepped down and Kamala Harris took over as presidential candidate, various Democrats have joked about Trump’s age, with Bill Clinton most recently bragging that despite being 78, “I’m still younger than Trump,” who is two months older than him.
Newsweek has contacted Trump’s spokesperson for comment.
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