Trump's 'Meheeho' moment: attempt at local flavor falls flat

President Donald Trump is known for being slick with his tongue during speeches, but his tongue betrayed him on Monday after he attempted to pronounce Mexico the way a Spanish speaker would."For years, you watched companies move production from America down to Meheeho. I love the way—there's a very nice president of Mexico (Claudia Sheinbaum), you know that? She's speaking to me. She calls it Meheeho," Trump said during a rally at the General Motors Proving Ground in Milford, Michigan.

The 80-year-old then added: "So I said to the group the other day that we will stop all business going to Meheeho. They didn't know what the hell I was talking about. It didn't come out as well, Sean (Duffy)," he concluded. Mexico's garbled pronunciation, which Mexicans call 'Me-hee-ko', instantly went viral, with social media users piling on. It's the latest in a string of gaffes where he's mixed up countries, names, and facts mid-speech.

Trump recently confused Iran with one of the U.S.'s closest allies, Japan, during a press interaction in Ankara, Turkey, on the sidelines of a NATO summit—an error that fuelled speculation and concerns about his physical and cognitive health. The "Meheeho" gaffe didn't sit well with some observers online, who accused Trump of mocking the country, while others were simply enjoying the memes.

Another incident that got a lot of play online was when a protester heckled Trump during his speech, repeatedly shouting "pedophile protector." Videos shared on social media showed Trump reacting to the man as he was taken away. The chants come amid pressure over the release of additional documents related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump was a friend of Epstein's, with numerous photos showing the two together. The late billionaire was accused of running a sex-trafficking ring involving underage girls.

The president was about ten minutes into his speech, talking up his "historic" tariffs, when a man in the crowd began shouting, "Pedophile protector! Pedophile protector!" Trump initially ignored the heckler, but paused as the man was seemingly removed. "He's a communist, he's a communist," Trump said, pointing at him. The crowd then broke into a chant of "USA! USA!" to drown out the disruption.

A second group of protesters disrupted the event after they unfurled banners reading "Stop Data Centers," before being removed by security personnel. It's likely a reference to Trump's recent executive order aimed at speeding up federal permitting for data centers. Six protesters held yellow signs bearing the slogan and chanted "Data centers no, people pay the bill." Their chants, too, were quickly drowned out by attendees chanting "USA."