President Donald Trump referred to the social media platform TikTok as “Tic Tac” on Wednesday, at least the third time he’s done that in the past week. The president’s verbal slips appear to be more frequent these days. Appearing at a NATO summit in Turkey on Wednesday, Trump also talked about the “Islamic Republic of Japan,” mistakenly called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “President Putin,” and called Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin “Len-een.”
It’s unclear whether all of this is a result of Trump’s advanced age, his international travel schedule, or the fact that he’s always been rather dim. The president went on a rant about “communists” on Wednesday, first rambling about how none of his political opponents had “the look” needed to succeed and then insisting that anyone who called themselves a social democrat was actually a communist.
Later, when asked about his communism comments, Trump said, “I talk about it on Tic Tac,” mispronouncing the name of the video app.
Trump: “I talk about it on Tic Tac” pic.twitter.com/lqosdDKnGJ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 8, 2026
Just hours earlier, the president also called TikTok by the name “Tic Tac,” but did so during a rant about how popular he is on the platform. Trump claimed he’s “number one” on the app, something he also said Monday during an announcement with Michael Dell at the White House.
It’s unclear what Trump means by “number one,” but if he means the highest number of followers, that’s not true. Trump has 16.6 million followers on TikTok, while the actual number is Khaby Lane with 162 million followers, according to Wikipedia. Trump doesn’t even crack the top 50 most-followed accounts.
Trump, who’s incredibly unpopular with Gen Z voters, called TikTok “Tic Tac” on Monday as part of a rant against Taylor Swift, who he claimed is less popular than he is on the platform. Asked about SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell’s recent donations to Trump accounts, he randomly brought up something he’d seen on Maria Bartiromo’s Fox News show about TikTok still being a Chinese threat. His own popularity was evidence that wasn’t the case, he claimed, especially since he frequently whines about communism these days.
“The numbers just came out, and I said, ‘Well, I’m hearing about how they influence. They are talking about [how] they’re a tremendous danger because of the influence,” Trump ranted. “If they influence so badly, I’m saying all things like I love our country, we have to stop Communism. We’re doing a lot of things.”
During his first term, President Trump worked to ban TikTok outright as a supposed national security threat. That effort was dropped by President Joe Biden before Congress took up the cause and passed legislation to either force a sale of the company to U.S. interests or face a ban. But during the 2024 election, Trump pulled a 180, insisting that it shouldn’t be banned anymore, delaying the legislation from coming into full effect.
The U.S. version of TikTok now operates as a majority-American-owned venture, with Chinese parent company ByteDance owning 19.9%, and the rest owned by Oracle, Silver Lake, the UAE’s MGX, and Michael Dell’s firm, along with other smaller firms. While no one asked him about China’s influence on TikTok, he still seemed to feel the need to defend it on Monday, saying, “I know one thing: great American people, tremendous business people, and companies bought it.”
There are no clear indications why Trump keeps bringing up “Tic Tac,” aside from bragging about his purported popularity, but the frequency suggests he may be having conversations with some of his buddies (Oracle founder Larry Ellison is a pal, Michael Dell has had a significant presence this term) about the company.
Trump’s malapropisms seemed endless on Wednesday. At one point, Trump even said he had been president three times. One of the most humorous examples may have been when Trump referred to the Islamic Republic of Japan, rather than Iran.
Trump made several startling statements on Wednesday, including an assertion that he might just have to “finish the job” against Iran, at one point suggesting he would target infrastructure in the country like roads and bridges.
Believe it or not, there was a time before Trump entered the White House when simple verbal flubs or physical oddities would come to define a president. Jimmy Carter was once attacked by a rabbit, something that stuck with him for years, since people found it ironic given his history of environmentalism. All anyone remembers about Vice President Dan Quayle is that he misspelled potato. Richard Nixon said, “I am not a crook,” and it defines his presidency.
Trump has an “I am not a crook” or misspelled potato incident virtually every day. But the Overton Window has shifted significantly. When President Biden mistakenly called Zelensky “President Putin” in July 2024, it was a major story about how the aging American leader was declining. Today, that flub is buried among a dozen other weird things Trump has done and said. Including his obsession with “Tic Tac.”
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