Trump's Embarrassing Acetaminophen Blunder Has The Biden Comparisons Flying

There were alarm bells ringing about Joe Biden's health in the last year of his presidency. And now, in the first year of Donald Trump's second term, people have questions about his health, too. Trump looked like he couldn't stay awake during King Charles III's speech at the recent state banquet in the U.K. That could fairly reasonably be blamed on jet lag. Trump has also been seen frequently with makeup or bruises on the back of his hand. The White House has said it's because he shakes a lot of people's hands. And now Trump's made a flub over a word that has people talking about Biden and calling out hypocrisy.

Trump was making an announcement about what his administration feels is a causal link between autism and the use of acetaminophen (the most common brand name is Tylenol) during pregnancy. (Note: it's not agreed upon science that this is a cause of autism.) During the announcement, Trump was unable to pronounce the word "acetaminophen," perhaps saying the word out loud for the first time. After he finally said it correctly, Trump asked, "Is that OK?" Even when he finally got it right, it was clear that things were not OK; people definitely noticed.

Trump: "Asceda — well, let's see how we say that. Ascenem — enophin. Acetaminophen. Is that okay?" pic.twitter.com/EVp7IGSksk

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 22, 2025

Biden had a stutter, which could explain some of his slips when he spoke, though some thought it showed potential cognitive decline. We're not sure what Trump's reason was — but the internet has thoughts. One person joked on X, "Who thought it was a good idea to have Trump, a guy who speaks at an elementary school level, pronounce Acetaminophen?" Another person noted, "This was the biggest announcement he was ever going to make and he fumbles the main word of the announcement."

Some people just couldn't believe what they were seeing as Donald Trump struggled to pronounce acetaminophen. "This is beyond satire. Like they wouldn't have even done this on 'Veep' because it's too ridiculous," one person wrote on X. (For reference, "Veep" was an HBO comedy starring Julia Louis-Drefyus and satirized American politics.) Others on social media were not impressed that Trump was seemingly allowed to get away with his clear and dramatic stumble over a word, while Joe Biden wasn't. Another X user wrote, "I seem to recall certain reporters (looking at you [Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson]) being very upset with another President for mispronouncing words. They suggested he might have dementia. They thought he should be removed. Any thoughts on this, fellas?"

Then there were those who thought mentioning Tylenol specifically in the announcement wasn't a great idea. "Yeah, drop the brand name in there for the lawsuit, genius," one critic posted on X. Tylenol is a name brand product that uses acetaminophen as "the primary active ingredient," according to the Tylenol website. (The website also has a handy phonetic pronunciation description for the word, which may have been helpful for Trump.) RFK Jr. also espoused the claim that pregnant women using acetaminophen could cause an increased risk of autism in their children.

Beyond Trump being unable to pronounce the word, others have taken issue with the claim being made at all. In the U.K., for one, health secretary Wes Streeting has advised people to listen to their doctors over American politicians.