Donald Trump’s presidency will soon come to an end, and his time in the White House will almost certainly be best remembered for the chaos and controversy caused by his oft-criticized choices on everything from immigration to the coronavirus pandemic.
The president’s habit of making off-the-cuff comments and split-second decisions – either over Twitter or on the White House south lawn – has repeatedly moved markets and sent his senior staffers scrambling to explain the firing of yet another cabinet secretary.
These moments have often sparked widespread alarm, such as when Trump incorrectly suggested Americans could protect themselves from coronavirus by ingesting disinfectants.
But some of those Trumpian moments have been so obviously ridiculous that Americans had no choice but simply to laugh.
Here are 10 purely comedic moments from the Trump presidency:
1. When Trump stared at the solar eclipse. Way back in August 2017, Americans across the country stopped in their tracks to view the rare total solar eclipse. In the days before the celestial event, ophthalmologists turned to every possible news outlet to share this urgent warning: do not stare at the sun without protective eyewear. But those dozens of warnings did not stop one man, our commander-in-chief, from doing just that.
2. When Trump came up with “covfefe”. The Trump era has been marked by the introduction of a number of new words and phrases, such as “fake news”, “alternative facts”, “bigly” or, as he argued, “big league”. But arguably the most nonsensical of all is “covfefe”, the made-up word that Trump included in a 2017 tweet complaining about news coverage of his administration. “Despite the negative press covfefe,” Trump wrote in the incomplete tweet. The president quickly deleted the tweet, but the word had already spawned thousands of Twitter jokes.
Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster)
Wakes up.
May 31, 2017
Checks Twitter.
.
.
.
Uh...
.
.
.
📈 Lookups fo...
.
.
.
Regrets checking Twitter.
Goes back to bed.
3. When Trump yelled at a boy mowing the White House lawn and became a meme. It all began with a letter to the White House. Frank Giaccio, a 10-year-old from Virginia, said in his letter to Trump that he had started his own lawn-mowing business and wanted to make the White House one of his clients. In September 2017, Giaccio got his wish.
As Giaccio mowed the White House lawn, the president stepped out to commend him for his entrepreneurial spirit, apparently trying to shout over the sound of the lawnmower. The resulting photo sparked a meme that was deployed for every major controversy over the rest of Trump’s presidency.
rachel axler (@rachelaxler)
"HELLO BARRON OR MAYBE TIFFANY" pic.twitter.com/QMokt3RNfU
September 15, 2017
4. When Trump and two other world leaders stood around a glowing orb. Trump’s 2017 trip to Saudi Arabia gave the world one of the most enduring images from his presidency. While visiting an anti-extremist center in Riyadh, Trump, King Salman and the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah el-Sisi, placed their hands on a glowing orb. The resulting photos of the three leaders standing around a lit sphere, looking as if they were planning global destruction, prompted a widespread reaction of, “Wait, what?”
5. When Anthony Scaramucci was fired after 11 days as White House communications director. The rapid rise and fall of “the Mooch” across 11 days in 2017 was an early indication of the chaos that would define Trump’s staffing strategy. Scaramucci was let go after a foul-mouthed tirade to the New Yorker, including referring to the then chief of staff, Reince Priebus, as “a fucking paranoid schizophrenic”.
The communications director was pushed out by the newly installed chief of staff, John Kelly, who was also dismissed a little over a year later. After his short White House stint, Scaramucci became a fierce critic of the president and took to using the short length of his tenure as a measurement of time.
Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci)
Tomorrow starts the last Scaramucci (11 days) of the race.
October 23, 2020
6. When Trump waxed poetic about a steelworker’s late father, who was very much alive. During a 2018 event at the White House, Scott Sauritch, the president of a steelworkers union in Pennsylvania, thanked Trump for imposing tariffs on steel imports. Sauritch noted his father, Herman, lost his job because of steel imports.
The president told Sauritch, “Well, your father Herman is looking down. He’s very proud of you right now.” Sauritch replied, “Oh, he’s still alive.” Trump tried to recover by saying, “Well then, he’s even more proud of you.”
7. When Trump asked a seven-year-old girl whether she “still” believed in Santa Claus. When Collman Lloyd contacted the North American Aerospace Defense Command to track Santa’s whereabouts in 2018, the young girl probably didn’t expect to speak to the president – or to be quizzed on her beliefs.
The president and the first lady were taking calls patched through from Norad on Christmas Eve to speak to children wondering where Santa was on his journey around the world. Trump asked Lloyd, “Are you still a believer in Santa? Because at seven it’s marginal, right?”
8. When Trump wanted to buy Greenland. After the president confirmed last year that he was toying with the idea of trying to purchase Greenland, the internet jumped to assist him, envisioning a Trump Tower on the island and suggesting a potential price point for the transaction. But some people, namely residents of Greenland, did not find the outlandish suggestion to be quite as funny, so Greenland’s leadership issued a statement making it clear that the island, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, was “not for sale”.
Greenland MFA 🇬🇱 (@GreenlandMFA)
#Greenland is rich in valuable resources such as minerals, the purest water and ice, fish stocks, seafood, renewable energy and is a new frontier for adventure tourism. We're open for business, not for sale❄️🗻🐳🦐🇬🇱 learn more about Greenland on: https://t.co/WulOi3beIC
August 16, 2019
9. When Trump claimed “fake news” over a picture of his tan line. While returning to the White House from a trip to North Carolina in February, photographers captured a picture of Trump that showed a noticeable tan line on the president’s face.
A different version of the photo, which appeared to exaggerate the tan line, later went viral on Twitter, sparking comparisons to Mrs Doubtfire and Wilson the volleyball from Cast Away. Trump couldn’t help but weigh in, writing in a tweet, “More Fake News. This was photoshopped, obviously, but the wind was strong and the hair looks good? Anything to demean!”
10. When Trump’s campaign held a press conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping in Philadelphia. Hours before Joe Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election, Trump sent a tweet saying his campaign would hold a press conference at the Four Seasons in Philadelphia. But he then sent another tweet, clarifying that the event would actually take place at Four Seasons Total Landscaping, a Philadelphia groundskeeping business located between a crematorium and a sex shop.
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
Big press conference today in Philadelphia at Four Seasons Total Landscaping — 11:30am!
November 7, 2020
The mix-up was a major embarrassment for Trump advisers like Rudy Giuliani, who was forced to peddle his baseless claims about election fraud in a parking lot. But it was a huge success in terms of Twitter jokes and merchandising opportunities for the previously little-known landscaping company.
Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt)
This is not over. For we shall mount our righteous stand at Four Seasons Total Landscaping. Next to Fantasy Island Adult Books. Across the street from the Delaware Valley Cremation Center. Between the fire extinguisher and yellow hose. #MAGA pic.twitter.com/hxuAsbEjXi
November 7, 2020
January 01, 2021 at 02:00PM
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From covfefe to the Mooch: 10 funny moments from the Trump presidency - The Guardian
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Funny
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