Trump Mocked Over Declaration of Independence Gaffe (Video)

President Donald Trump was hit with a wave of ridicule after misquoting the Declaration of Independence during a high-profile Fourth of July speech marking America’s 250th anniversary.

Trump, 80, made the blunder while speaking at a massive Independence Day rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Saturday night.

During a section of his speech attacking communism and socialism, Trump attributed a religious statement to the Declaration of Independence that does not actually appear anywhere in the historic document.

Nothing says “I love America” like misquoting the Declaration of Independence on live TV and then pretending the fake quote proves everyone else hates the country. https://t.co/FyclotpIuE

— Khary Penebaker (@kharyp) July 5, 2026

“And as our Declaration of Independence tells us, we are all made in the image of one almighty God,” Trump told the crowd. “And a communist will never say that. That’s for sure.”

There was just one problem: The Declaration of Independence says no such thing.

The founding document does state that “all men are created equal” and are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” However, the phrase about all people being made in God’s image comes from the Bible, not the Declaration.

The mistake quickly spread across social media, where critics from across the political spectrum mocked the president for fumbling one of the country’s most famous founding documents during an event celebrating its adoption.

The speech itself had been delayed by severe weather, and Trump did not take the stage until after 11 p.m.

It was not immediately clear whether the inaccurate line had been included in Trump’s prepared remarks or whether the president improvised it during the speech. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast.

Influencer Khary Penebaker blasted the error on X.

“Nothing says ‘I love America’ like misquoting the Declaration of Independence on live TV and then pretending the fake quote proves everyone else hates the country,” he wrote.

Alex Nowrasteh, senior vice president for policy at the libertarian Cato Institute, also piled on.

“‘Trump may have misquoted the Declaration but that’s ok because the Declaration should have said that.’ — NatCons, probably,” he joked while reposting footage of the gaffe.

Nowrasteh also shared another post accusing Trump’s MAGA supporters of applying a political double standard.

“Imagine if Zohran Mamdani had misquoted the Declaration of Independence in his 4th of July speech,” the post read. “We’d get a hundred threads about how this proves yet again that immigrants aren’t real Americans and shouldn’t be elected to public office.”

Another social media user argued that the mistake would become an embarrassing part of the historic anniversary.

“It will go down in history that the person who was president on our 250th anniversary lied about what is in the document that the anniversary is about,” the critic wrote.

Earlier in the address, Trump praised the Constitution as “the most righteous political document ever conceived” before listing several freedoms protected in the United States.

“Unlike so many others in the world, in this country we have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, equal justice under the law,” Trump said.

He then interrupted his own patriotic message to take a familiar swipe at the criminal investigations and legal cases he has faced.

“Although I wasn’t treated that well, but we won’t get into that,” Trump added.

Matthew Boedy, a rhetoric professor at the University of North Georgia, responded with a biting message of his own.

“America in 2026: its president misquotes the Declaration of Independence,” Boedy wrote.

“Open the civics centers. Just for him.”

Despite the online uproar, the celebration continued with Freedom 250’s Salute to America fireworks display, which organizers billed as an attempt to stage the largest fireworks show in history using approximately 850,000 fireworks.

But for many of Trump’s critics, the president’s Declaration of Independence mix-up became one of the most memorable moments of America’s milestone birthday celebration.