Which Concord? Trump appears to mix up geography at campaign rally
The New England towns of Concord, Massachusetts, and Concord, New Hampshire, may only be about an hour away from each other by car, but their respective roles in American military history are miles apart.
President Donald Trump, speaking to supporters at a rally in New Hampshire on Monday, appeared to mix up the Granite State’s capital of Concord with the Massachusetts town by the same name where a key battle in the American Revolution took place.
After describing how his administration has bolstered defense spending to “rebuild the United States military,” Trump said: “We are funding for New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Army, National Guard, readiness centers, just a few miles from here in Pembroke and in Concord. Concord, I love Concord!”
“You know how the famous Concord is? Concord — that’s the same Concord that we read about all the time right? Concord,” Trump told the crowd a day before the state’s primary elections.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a CNN request for comment on what Trump meant.
Now, Concord, New Hampshire, isn’t without its own historical significance. It is, after all, the capital of the state and had been settled before the American Revolution. However, if Trump is referring to the Concord most Americans have read about in US history books, he’s probably referring to the Battles of Lexington and Concord — the first set of battles to kick off the American Revolutionary War — which took place in Massachusetts.
The opening shot at the Battle of Concord has been famously referred to as the “shot heard ’round the world.”
Earlier this month, the President also mixed up his geography when he congratulated the state of Kansas after the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl. The team plays in Missouri.
Trump’s New Hampshire snafu wouldn’t be the first time someone running for president mixed up the two Concords.
While running to be the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, Michele Bachmann told a fundraising group in Nashua, New Hampshire: “You’re the state where the shot was heard around the world at Lexington and Concord.”
