He then added a brief personal grievance regarding his ongoing legal situation. "Although I wasn't treated that well, but we won't get into that," added President Donald Trump.
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The blunder quickly provoked sharp reactions across social media networks following the late-night speech.
"Nothing says 'I love America' like misquoting the Declaration of Independence on live TV and then pretending the fake quote proves everyone else hates the country," wrote influencer Khary Penebaker.
Alex Nowrasteh, senior vice president for policy at the Cato Institute, mocked the error on X by parodying potential defenses from national conservatives.
"'Trump may have misquoted the Declaration but that's ok because the Declaration should have said that.' -NatCons, probably," wrote Alex Nowrasteh.
He further highlighted a double standard regarding immigration by sharing another social media post.
"Imagine if Zohran Mamdani had misquoted the Declaration of Independence in his 4th of July speech.
We'd get a hundred threads about how this proves yet again that immigrants aren't real Americans and shouldn't be elected to public office," the post said.
Another user on X highlighted the historical irony of the mistake occurring on the nation's semiquincentennial.
"It will go down in history that the person who was president on our 250th anniversary lied about what is in the document that the anniversary is about," another X user pointed out.
Academic experts also joined in the criticism, focusing on the rhetorical nature of the blunder.
"America in 2026: its president misquotes the Declaration of Independence," wrote Matthew Boedy, a professor of rhetoric at the University of North Georgia.
The professor concluded his reaction by suggesting a remedial course of action for the president. "Open the civics centers.
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Just for him," wrote Matthew Boedy.
