President Trump said the Great Lakes have “record deepness” during an unusual moment in his boisterous rally Thursday night in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Trump often likes to use hyperbole to describe the places he visits, and in this case it led him to make a statement in the Great Lakes State that left some people scratching their heads.
{mosads}”I support the Great Lakes. Always have,” Trump said during his speech. “They’re beautiful. They’re big. Very deep. Record deepness.”
While the Great Lakes are big and many would describe them as beautiful, they are not among the deepest lakes in the United States, let alone the world.
The deepest lake in the country is Crater Lake, a volcanic crater in southern Oregon with the deepest measured depth of 1,949 feet, according to Geology.com.
Lake Superior is the Great Lake with the largest surface area in the U.S. at 31,700 miles. Its maximum depth is 1,332 feet, but it doesn’t make the record books.
Trump’s comments were getting some chuckles on Twitter the morning after.
A parody Twitter account with the name “Lake Superior” tweeted: “I hate to admit this, but … no, not record deepness. Not in the world or in he United States.”
Another parody account imagined what Trump might say while complimenting America’s mountains.
Most of the attention on Trump’s remarks about the lakes focused on his budget proposal. Trump said that he supported “full funding” for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative — despite his administration calling for slashing funding by 90 percent.
“And I’m going to get, in honor of my friends, full funding of $300 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative,” the president said.
His 2020 fiscal budget proposal calls for a $270 million cut to the $300 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, according to The Detroit Free Press.
This is the third year in a row that the Trump administration’s budget proposal has called for making cuts to the program.