Donald Trump twitter: Republican accused of thinking Paris is in Germany after tweet about Barbes shooting

The US Republican presidential candidate warned Europe to 'get smart'

Donald Trump might even be getting stronger (Reuters)

Donald Trump must be reasonably well acquainted with the phrase: 'think before you tweet' by now, even if he doesn't seem to have given the matter much... well, thought.

For once, however, the US presidential hopeful appears to have been taken out of context with a comment made in response to the latest attack in Paris, in which a man was shot dead outside Barbes police station.

The outspoken and controversial Republican candidate, who has experienced a series of foot-in-mouth moments and social media spats - most notably following his pledge to "ban all Muslims" from America - tweeted: "Man shot inside Paris police station.

"Just announced that terror threat is at highest level. Germany is a total mess-big crime. GET SMART!"

He was immediately accused of conflating the two, with people openly despairing that someone with such a basic lack of geography could ever seriously hope to be president.

But rather than really believing that Paris is the capital of Germany, not France - it's fairly likely that the businessman was simply listing the places in Europe he believes need to act swiftly to deal with crime and terrorism.

That didn't stop people taking to Twitter with a gleeful air of schadenfreude, tweeting: "So, you think Paris is in Germany?" and "This man wants to run the United States of America. He can't even run his own hairstyle."

And even Rhondda MP Chris Bryant got in on the act, tweeting: "I've realised there's no threat @realDonaldTrump will make it to UK. He thinks Paris is in Germany. #getsmart."

Others dolefully pointed out the truth behind the tweet - that is, it's pretty obvious he really doesn't think that at all.

This time, it seems, we can't honestly accuse him of a slip of the tongue.

But let's not forget the numerous high-profile gaffes he's made in the past, including making ill-advised comments on vaccinations and being openly derogatory to women.