When Donald Trump met the Italian prime minister
Here’s Donald Trump talking alongside the Italian prime minister Paolo Gentiloni during a visit to the White House on Thursday.
Trump gives a shout out to Pavarotti, calls him "a good friend of mine".
Pavarotti died 10 years ago in 2007. —via @MSNBC pic.twitter.com/MHMT065mh3
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 20, 2017
Here’s what Trump had to say:
“Through the ages your country has been a beacon of artistic and scientific achievement.
“That continues today, from Venice to Florence, from Verdi to Pavarotti, friend of mine, great friend of mine.”
Pavarotti died in 2007 and his family are certainly no great friends of Trump,
They called on the so-called president to stop him using his music during his presidential campaign last year. This is what they said:
“The values of brotherhood and solidarity which Luciano Pavarotti expressed throughout the course of his artistic career are entirely incompatible with the worldview offered by the candidate Donald Trump.”
Here’s Trump’s use of Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma in action.
With Nessun Dorma blasting out, Donald Trump’s plane flies right past media and cheering supporters in Cleveland. pic.twitter.com/fmwDpIVcjh
— James Cook (@BBCJamesCook) July 20, 2016
So maybe not such a “great friend” then.
People were split on where to rank this in Trump’s all-time gaffe top 100.
Trump gives a shout out to Pavarotti, calls him "a good friend of mine".
Pavarotti died 10 years ago in 2007. —via @MSNBC pic.twitter.com/MHMT065mh3
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 20, 2017
As an expert on Trump thinking dead people are alive, this one doesn't seem like an error to me. https://t.co/XW3dK3HWzb
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) April 20, 2017
By that I mean: this strikes me as a common way people talk about dead people, not the president failing to remember Pavarotti died.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) April 20, 2017
@ddale8 "friend of mine. great friend of mine." doesn't seem like past tense to me…
— Steven Spencer (@sspencer_smb) April 20, 2017