‘Troupe reductions’: Trump again threatens to veto defence bill in awkward misspelt tweet

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President Donald Trump on Tuesday repeated his threat to veto a must-pass defence bill – in a tweet in which he misspelt troop.

Mr Trump called on GOP lawmakers to vote against the "very weak" National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

He said any successful bill must allow for a reduction in troops fighting wars in "foreign lands".

But instead of writing "troops", the outgoing commander-in-chief wrote "troupes".

He said: "I hope House Republicans will vote against the very weak National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which I will VETO.  

"Must include a termination of Section 230 (for National Security purposes), preserve our National Monuments, & allow for 5G & troupe reductions in foreign lands!"

Mr Trump later deleted the tweet and replaced it with one that correctly spelled troop.

Tuesday's intervention is the latest attempt by the president to disrupt the essential $740bn piece of legislation.

In a continuation of his war with "liberal" social media companies, Mr Trump last week urged lawmakers to remove Section 230 from the bill, claiming it was "a serious threat to our National Security & Election Integrity".

Section 230 provides tech giants such as Facebook and Twitter with legal protections against getting sued for the content shared on their platforms.

White House insiders said at the time such a move was a "non-starter".

Mr Trump has been embroiled in spats with several tech giants in recent weeks, claiming that they are inherently biased against conservative views, allegations they deny.

He and members of his team have hit out at how some firms have presented the 2020 election results.

Despite losing the election to President-elect Joe Biden, the defeated incumbent continues to spew out unsubstantiated allegations about voter fraud on his Twitter feed, claims the company has been flagging as “disputed”.

It is unlikely that Mr Trump’s protests against the NDAA will stop it from passing through Congress.

The annual bill, which has passed for 59 years in a row on a bipartisan basis, guides Pentagon policy and cements decisions about troop levels, new weapons systems and military readiness, military personnel policy and other military goals.

The House is scheduled to take up the Act later on Tuesday, with the Senate set to follow suit shortly thereafter.