Here are 8 of the funniest times Trump botched someone's name — from 'Ron Ryan' to 'Tim Apple'

Matthew Chapman
06 March 2019

President Donald Trump drew mockery Wednesday when he forgot the name of Apple CEO Tim Cook at the inaugural meeting of his American Workforce Policy Advisory Board. Unable to remember the tech executive's last name, Trump simply substituted in the name of his company, calling him "Tim Apple":

It was a comical moment, obviously — but it is far from an aberration. Trump, who has boasted that he has "one of the great memories of all time," routinely forgets people's names, including his own subordinates and allies in Congress. And that's not even mentioning all the times he's fumbled the names of other entities, like calling Customs and Border Protection the "CBC" and calling the fire-devastated city of Paradise, California, "Pleasure."

Here are eight of the funniest moments Trump forgot someone's name:

  1. "Marillyn Lockheed."

This is not even the first time Trump substituted in a business leader's corporation in place of their surname. He did the exact same thing last March during a press conference on Chinese tariffs with Marillyn Hewson, the CEO of defense giant Lockheed Martin.

Watch below:

For good measure, Trump also bragged at that press conference about how "Marillyn Lockheed's" new line of F-35 fighter jets are invisible, saying "you can't see them." They are not invisible.

  1. "Wendy Wasserman Schultz."

Last April, Trump took to Twitter to attack Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), the former head of the Democratic National Committee and didn't get her name right. "Just heard the Campaign was sued by the Obstructionist Democrats. This can be good news in that we will now counter for the DNC Server that they refused to give to the FBI, the Wendy Wasserman Schultz Servers and Documents held by the Pakistani mystery man and Clinton Emails," Trump tweeted.

The tweet, which appeared to blend the name of Debbie Wasserman Schultz with playwrite Wendy Wasserstein, was eventually deleted and replaced with a corrected version — but not before social media had thoroughly mocked the president.

  1. "Ron Ryan."

While Trump presumably doesn't do business on a regular basis with Wasserman Schultz, he certainly did with former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), who spent his final years in Congress scrambling to carry water for the president any way he could. So it had to be humiliating when, at an event in Ryan's hometown in April 2017, Trump referred to him multiple times as "Ron."

Watch below:

  1. "Steve" McCarthy.

Trump doesn't appear to be doing any better with Ryan's successor as House Republican Leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). At an event this January, where McCarthy was discussing talks to secure funding for Trump's border wall amid a federal government shutdown, Trump referred to him as "Steve," after he finished talking.

Watch below:

It is possible that Trump was mixing him up with House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), who was also at the conference.

  1. "Matt Blum."

If Trump couldn't remember the names of the highest-ranking Republican officials in the House, what chance did he have of remembering the name of former Rep. Rod Blum (R-IA) at a visit to Northeast Iowa Community College last July? At the event, he referred to him as "Matt."

Watch below:

  1. "Mike Messer."

Rep. Luke Messer (R-IN) met a similar fate when Trump thanked him for his support of the GOP tax bill at an event in Indianapolis.

Watch below:

  1. "Mike Bolton."

Also incorrectly named "Mike" is John Bolton, Trump's National Security Adviser. And reportedly, this is not a one-off — he has repeatedly made this mistake.

It is possible that Trump is thinking of Michael Bolton, the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter.

  1. "Jim Perry."

Apparently, Trump's forgetfulness with names is not limited to his tenure as president. Back in 2011, shortly after dining with then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is now Trump's Secretary of Energy, he proclaimed that he was impressed with "Jim Perry."

This one, too, might have an explanation. Jim Perry happens to be the name of a CEO Trump hired in 2005 to manage Trump Entertainment Resorts, with the hope of turning around his struggling Atlantic City casino properties (this did not happen, and Perry was fired two years later.)

Taken together, all of these incidents call into question Trump's cognitive acuity and his basic fitness for office.

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