Trump Fully and Totally Endorses Republican Congressman Who's Not Even on the Ballot

President Trump tweeted his wholehearted support for Congressman Steve Stivers of Ohio in the special U.S. House election next Tuesday, praising Stivers for being “tough on crime & borders” and “big on 2nd Amendment” in an almost word-for-word copy of his previous Twitter endorsements.

The only problem: Stivers is not even on the ballot. The four-term congressman, who’s also chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, ran unopposed in his primary race back in May, and so he won’t appear on the ballot against the Democratic candidate, Rick Neal, until the November general election, according to Politico. Oops.

Trump’s tweet, posted Thursday afternoon, was deleted just 10 minutes after.

The president likely mixed up Stivers with state Senator Troy Balderson, who is facing off for the 12th congressional district seat against Democrat Danny O’Connor in Tuesday’s special election. The mistake is especially embarrassing because Trump is scheduled to visit Delaware County on Saturday at a rally in support of Balderson.

30 minutes later, Trump put out another tweet, this time tagging the right congressman.

Perhaps he has a generic template for endorsement tweets with fill in the blanks for the name? They’re all awfully similar, with the same use of language like “tough on Crime and Borders,” or “Full and Total endorsement”:

It certainly wouldn’t be the first time Trump appeared confused about who’s running or who he even supports.