US Vice President Mike Pence's trip to Ireland was overshadowed by an unexpected mishap on his official Twitter account – a post devoted to his arrival in the country contained the flag of the Ivory Coast instead of that of Ireland. The two essentially look like mirrored images of each other.
Although the tweet was later deleted, netizens managed to take screenshots of it and used the blunder as a pretext to deliver sarcastic jabs at the American vice president.
US vice president meets Higgins and Varadkar during official visit to Ireland https://t.co/W8bILG97xf Pence tweeted when he landed in Ireland, that showed the flag of the Ivory Coast - orange, white and green - instead of Ireland and these people lead the " Free world?!! "
— Sean NORTH.. (@marion1100) September 3, 2019
The nitwit vie - president Pence of the USA arrived in Ireland thinking he'd arrived in the Ivory Coast..you don't have to be educated to be vice - president of the USA, like Trump. pic.twitter.com/YOyegXYSKl
— Sean NORTH.. (@marion1100) September 3, 2019
Many netizens simply questioned the mental abilities of Mike Pence, who had apparently failed to double-check which flag he picked.
What an idiot.
— Philip Hall (@1979Hall) September 3, 2019
Dumb!
— Rebecca Knowles (@BriteGreenWorld) September 3, 2019
Some people, however, came to the US vice president's defence, noting that the two flags indeed look very similar and can be easily confused when looked at by a non-resident of the two countries.
Flags are important for example this is the Ivory Coast 🇨🇮 a beautiful country on the west coast of Africa. They speak French & call home Côte d'Ivoire. This is the flag of Ireland 🇮🇪. Same same but different so it’s easy to understand how USA Vice President #Pence got it wrong pic.twitter.com/cwikovr1HL
— Nial Finegan (@NialFinegan) September 3, 2019
Is not his fault the Ivory Coast’s flag and Ireland flag look like
— Johnkab🇨🇩🇿🇲 (@Johnkab6) September 3, 2019
Pence's trip to the country was also mired in a scandal, as critics of him and Trump lashed out at the vice president's choice of facilities to stay at in the country. The VP’s team chose the International Golf Links hotel, belonging to Donald Trump, which, as critics argue, would allow the latter to profit from his time as US president. Pence's chief of staff discarded the allegations, noting that Golf Links was the only suitable option in the area.
