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US President Donald Trump has continued his streak of false claims - this time trying to take credit for one of New Zealand's achievements, which has angered Kiwis.

On Saturday during a speech at Mount Rushmore, Trump shared a list of "accomplishments" the United States has made which was later posted on the White House Twitter account.

"Americans harnessed electricity, split the atom, and gave the world the telephone and the internet. We settled the Wild West, won two World Wars, landed American astronauts on the Moon - and one day soon, we will plant our flag on Mars!," he wrote.

However, most claims on the list are untrue.

Kiwis were quick to defend Ernest Rutherford, the New Zealander who split the atom in 1917 by converting nitrogen atoms into oxygen, forcing the transformation and creating the nuclear age.

Meanwhile, the Scots were angered to see him try to take away Scottish man Alexander Bell's achievement of inventing the phone.

He worked on his first telephone mainly in Canada and only became a US citizen six years after his invention.

Trump also claimed that the US settled the Wild West, with the phrase sparking criticism for erasing history and Native Americans.

The US president coined the phrase during his 2020 State of the Union address in February and again used it during his July speech at the 400th anniversary of the first representative legislative assembly at Williamsburg.

Vox journalist Jessica Machado blasted him for using the phrase after his February speech.

"In his retelling of history, the president not only erased the millions of Native peoples prior to Columbus's arrival in 1492, but suggested that their lands, livelihoods, and existence were something to be tamed and conquered," she wrote.

One person on Twitter agreed, writing: "By settled the wild west I assume you mean colonised and all but eradicated an already established population of humans, correct?"

Others were upset about Trump's claim that the US won both the World Wars.

While the US played a vital part in both wars, it only joined World War 1 nearly three years after it started as Germany sank several US merchant ships.

In World War 2 the US again tried to remain neutral but joined the war in its final years after the attack on Pearl Harbour.

 

 

Comments

We all know that what comes out of Trump's mouth will be utter rubbish. My dog would make a better POTUS.

There are almost 300,000 kiwi children living in poverty and your concerned about this crap? Pathetic! Rutherford postulated the nuclear structure of the atom and in 1917 using an alpha particle; he knocked a proton out of a nitrogen atom. He did not split the atom. Rutherford called it "Playing with marbles". One of his Irish students, Ernest Walton, was literally the first person who split an atom in two. The particle accelerator they made was first operated at the University of California, Berkley. The first powered flight was Henri Giffard's steam-powered airship in 1852. On Sept. 24, 1852, Giffard traveled 27 kilometers from Paris to Trappes moving at about 10 kilometers/hour. In 1890, Clément Ader went half the length of a football field in a bat-winged setup that many view as the first manned, powered, heavier-than-air flight. Both of these individuals began flying long before the Wright Brothers or Pearse. Maybe focus your faux outrage on the fact there are so many children living in poverty here. Thats something that actually matters!

Here is something for you to consider. There are 104,366 dead, brave Americans buried across Europe. Americans who died to keep Europe free. Kiwis like yourself have become accustomed to an America led by former President Obama, an American elected leader, who travelled the world apologizing to Europe, Asia and the Middle East denouncing America as "arrogant"! You don’t like Trump because you view his leadership as arrogance. You don’t like Trump because he doesn’t apologize to anyone. Trump has reminded Americans of these sacrifices. Trump hasn’t asked any country for praise or thanks; you don’t like Trump because he absolutely won’t apologize. How many French, Dutch, Italians, Belgium’s, Brits or Kiwis are buried on American soil? How many died defending America from its enemies? Look at Hong Kong right now, how many Kiwi flags are being waved? Nobody looks to New Zealand to help them maintain their democracy! The protesters are waving American flags because America will “spill blood” to maintain democracy. America “talks the talk” and “walks the walk”, something Kiwis don’t have the stomach for. We are an irrelevant nation, people leave NZ to achieve greatness they dont stay!

You imply you are a Kiwi. If so your comments are disgracefully ignorant of NZ’s WW sacrifices. Aotearoa casualties in WW1 and WW2 as a proportion of population were 12.2 and 2.3 times, respectively, greater than those of the US.

Americans also seem to have convinced the world that the Wright brothers were the first to lumber into the air in a powered, heavier than air machine, but of course that was not so.
Richard Pearse from Waitohi, south Canterbury flew at least 3 times, several months before the Wrights. American boastful insistence seems to have paid off.