Slurpee on the brain: Donald Trump calls Sept. 11 attacks ‘7-11’ during New York rally

Most American citizens cannot recall memories of ordinary, mundane activities, such as the breakfast they ate last Tuesday or the outfit they wore three weeks ago, but there is one date they will never forget.

On Sept. 11, 2001, the entire nation came to a standstill as four coordinated terrorist attacks happened around the country, sending jetliners filled with innocent people crashing into public areas such as the Pentagon in Washington D.C., a field in Pennsylvania and, most notably, the Twin Towers in New York City.

This day was one that left a deep scar in both the hearts of Americans nationwide — except, apparently, for one: Republican presidential candidate and frontrunner Donald Trump.

During a campaign rally in Buffalo, New York on Monday, just one day before voters will cast their ballots in the New York primary, Trump referred to the September 11 attacks as 7-11, instead of its well-known nickname 9/11.

“I wrote this out and it’s very close to my heart because I was down there, and I watched our police and our firemen down on 7-11, down in the World Trade Center right after it came down,” he said in his speech.

7-11.

Trump, the leading Republican candidate to be the president of the United States of America, misstated the name of the deadliest attack on American soil in modern history — in front of a group of thousands of people who will presumably be voting for him to lead the country tomorrow. And he didn’t even bother to correct himself.

The worst part?

None of the rallygoers seemed put off, concerned, amused or repulsed of what just happened. In fact, they seemed quite dismissive, looking at their phones or even just staring off into space.

An attack on American soil — New York soil — that left nearly 3,000 dead, more than 6,000 injured and set off a years-long war that has no definite end in sight and yet voters did not seem even a little concerned that a presidential candidate could not even get the name right.

This is not the first aspect of the September 11 attacks Trump has misstated publicly: in November, shortly after terrorist attacks in Paris left 129 dead, he claimed he saw “thousands” of Muslims cheering on the fall of the Twin Towers, an allegation that later proved to be unsubstantiated.

Trump went on to talk about the New York values, calling “every person down there” the greatest and bravest people he’s ever seen.

“That’s what New York values (are) about…the values that make us love this state, despite its problems, we love this state,” he said. “We know its going to come back. If I’m president, it’s going to come back so fast, you won’t even believe it. You watch.”

The speech was meant to jab at his competitor Ted Cruz, who attacked New York values in a January debate, saying “not a lot of Conservatives come out of Manhattan.”

Trump fired back, saying “New York is a great place” with great people, before speaking on his experience with the 9/11 attacks and calling Cruz’s comment “insulting.”

In both speeches, Trump was not wrong. In fact, there is well-documented proof that he was in New York and near the September 11 attacks on the day they happened, including this interview with a German reporter two days later.

According to FiveThirtyEight, Trump has a more than 99 percent chance of winning the New York primary, possibly gifting him the majority of the state’s 95 delegates.

He currently tops the leaderboard with 744 delegates, out of the 1,237 needed to win the Republican nomination. Cruz has taken second with 559, while Kasich takes third with 144 delegates.

Maybe Trump was just craving a Slurpee from 7-Eleven, but he should really remember to write down specific dates of important American events at his next rally.

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