Republican Party called out for tweeting July 4 message with Liberian flag

The Republican Party is being called out on social media after it shared the flag of the wrong country in a post to mark 4 July on Twitter.

“247 years ago, our forefathers told Ol’ King George to get lost! Happy Independence Day from the GOP!” read the deleted tweet, with a photo of the flag of Liberia attached alongside.

Though the GOP’s tweet was swiftly removed from its official handle, the deletion was not fast enough to escape the ridicule that followed.

The flag of Liberia resembles the US flag and has similar red and white stripes, but it is distinguished by the presence of a single white star on a blue background, representing Africa’s first independent republic. The US flag has 50 stars to represent the country’s 50 states.

In a subsequent tweet, the Republican Party attempted to ignore the mistake and posted another Independence Day message, with the image of a sparkler in front of the US flag.

“Thank you to all the men and women in uniform who continue to defend our freedom at home and abroad. Happy Independence Day!” it said.

Twitter users, however, were quick to remind them of their mistake.

“We’re not gonna forget y’all not knowing the difference between the American flag and the flag of Liberia,” commented a user underneath the post.

“Happy ‘the GOP wouldn’t know the American flag if they were looking right at it’ (so they need to post the Liberian flag) to all who celebrate,” wrote another user.

“Bwahahahaha, the ‘we love USA’ crowd tweeted the wrong flag originally (Liberia). Is there an explanation as to why right wing parties are so incompetent so often?” wrote another person.