【1984 Archives】

Our Tweeter in Chief Donald Trump984 Archives is known for playing fast and loose with facts, but you'd think a birthday message to his wife would be a nice softball. He can garner a few awws and then move on.

Nope.

SEE ALSO: The only Melania in the White House is this photograph

On Wednesday, Melania Trump celebrated her birthday. And like most loved ones do on their spouse's birthday, Donald Trump took to Twitter to send his best wishes to his wife.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

However, when it came to the graphics, there was a ball drop. Or a star drop, if you will.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

If you look closely you'll notice that the flag in that graphics package only has 39 stars, which leaves out quite a number of states.

And because nothing escapes the internet, Twitter definitely noticed.

Mashable Trend Report Decode what’s viral, what’s next, and what it all means. Sign up for Mashable’s weekly Trend Report newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

To make matters even more worse, this is not the first time Donald Trump has shared the 39-star flag.

As MSNBC's Chris Hayes pointed out, Donald Trump also shared the flag at the end of the video welcoming freed Egyptian American Aya Hijazi who was imprisoned in Cairo.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

For reference, Mr. President, we've never actually had a 39-star flag in the history of the United States.

The design was actually created in 1889 when flag makers were anticipating the addition of the Dakotas to the United states. Flag makers incorrectly assumed that what we know as North Dakota and South Dakota would be admitted to the US as only one state, not two. The New York Times notes:

The 39-star flag was instantly obsolete on July 4, 1890, when five states were added to the Union.

In 1889, flag manufacturers tried to work ahead and erroneously believed the two Dakotas would be admitted as one state and other statehoods would be delayed for months. Both Dakotas, Montana and Washington were admitted into the Union in November 1889 and Idaho was admitted July 3, 1890.

Long story short, flag makers jumped the gun, so now 39-star flag was never an official flag. They are now just collectors items.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Now, to be fair, this is probably just a graphic design mistake from the White House art department, not a comment on how many states Trump wishes we had. But the fact stands: The. President. Of. The. United. States. Tweeted. A. Fake. Flag.

Happy Birthday, Melania!

---

Featured Video For You

---

Is Twitter's growth all thanks to Donald Trump?

---

• Entertainment
• Deals
• Shopping
• Life
• Tech
• Social Good
• Digital Culture
• Science

• The Mismeasure of Media
• Cheddar, Cheever, and the Burbs
• Donald Justice’s “There Is a Gold Light in Certain Old Paintings” by John Jeremiah Sullivan
• Flower Voyeur: A Comic by Lauren R. Weinstein
• Sunday's Fat Bear Week match pits two fat favorites against each other
• Remembering the Dell Mapbacks Series
• Remembering New York’s 1980s Hardcore Scene
• Teenage Dream: Four Paintings by Grace Weaver
• NYT mini crossword answers for April 24, 2025
• Announcing Our Fall 2015 Issue

• Will Ferrell resurrects George W. Bush impression to call out Donald Trump and Billy Bush
• Little time to recover as Italy hit by 2 powerful earthquakes
• Who is this mysterious doctor behind Trump and what does he want?
• New photos reveal widespread devastation of Great Barrier Reef
• Tokyo Comic
• People really want to believe that this photo of Bill Murray is actually Tom Hanks
• 5 awkward money convos you're gong to have at work (and how to handle them)
• 'Sherlock' Season 4 has a premiere date and it's as early as 2017 will allow
• Verizon to buy, then shut down, former Hulu CEO's video startup
• The LG V20 is a safe, dependable upgrade, after the failure of modular G5 smartphone

• Why Building a Gaming PC Right Now is a Bad Idea, Part 2: Insane Graphics Card Prices
• The World’s First Multicolor
• A Love Letter from Guillaume Apollinaire, in the Trenches
• Think Like a Mountain—Aldo Leopold’s Path to Conservationism
• The Amazon Book Sale is coming April 23 through 28
• Teenage Dream: Four Paintings by Grace Weaver
• Design a Cover for the 20th Anniversary of Infinite Jest
• The Teddy Bears’ Picnic
• Best robot vacuum deal: Eufy Omni C20 robot vacuum and mop $300 off at Amazon
• China Has Ripped Off Anish Kapoor’s “Bean” Sculpture

• Patched Desktop PC: Meltdown & Spectre Benchmarked
• The Seagull Is Perhaps History’s Most Maligned Bird
• The Book Cover in the Weimar Republic
• Why Michel Houellebecq Is Feuding With Le Monde
• Secret commands found in Bluetooth chip used in a billion devices
• The Battle of the Butt: Revisiting Norman Lear’s Cold Turkey
• Poem: George Bradley’s “August in the Apple Orchard”
• Look: Richard Brautigan’s Poetry Inspires Techno
• Best smartwatch deal: Get an Apple Watch Series 9 for 34% off
• Staff Picks: Robot Maids, Airships, Geocities by The Paris Review