Republican frontrunner Donald Trump had a Rick Perry moment during a Fox News town hall Monday night when he vowed to do away with the “Department of Environmental,” an agency that does not exist.
When asked by Fox host Sean Hannity if he would eliminate any federal departments as President, Trump responded “largely, we can eliminate the Department of Education,” a common refrain among conservatives.
But he went on: “Department of Environmental, I mean, the DEP is killing us environmentally, it’s just killing our businesses.”
Trump was likely referring to the Environmental Protection Agency, but his campaign did not respond to a TPM inquiry about what agency he meant to invoke.
The moment called back to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s infamous 2011 gaffe, when he struggled to come up with the EPA as one of the three agencies he would shutter until Mitt Romney stepped in with an assist.
In a debate last November, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) had his own tax-slashing brain freeze when he could only come up with four of the five agencies he vowed to cut as President.
Watch the remarks via Erick Erickson:
h/t The Resurgent
