On occasion Mr Trump tries a different approach, improvising a route from the wrong word to the right one. At the US Coast Guard graduation ceremony in 2017, he mistook the word “standard” for “stranded” – but had a nautical digression on hand to try and cover his mistake.
“What standard … and really, if you think of it, when you talk about the great sailors and the great sailors of the world, we have them … but what stranded sailor doesn’t feel relief when those red racing stripes break the horizon?”
In his 2018 State of the Union address, he paid tribute to a Homeland Security special agent named Celestino Martinez – who had apparently already suggested he be called by the wrong name.
Mr Trump told the joint session of the United States Congress: “He goes by DJ … and CJ … he said call me either one. So we’ll call you CJ.”
In April, talking about the Mueller report, he mispronounced the word "origins" as "oranges" three times. Appearing to realise it wasn't coming out right he tried to clarify what he meant: "The Mueller report I wish covered the oranges – how it started, the beginnings of the investigation."
The former developer and reality TV star is famously loath to admit any mistakes, which could explain his need to try to cover his slips of the tongue – and as someone accused of making more than 10,000 false or misleading statements in his presidency so far he has gained a reputation for not being scrupulously attached to details.