Another public event, another nice little nap for Donald Trump, the president whose trips increasingly seem to be up the wooden hills to Bedfordshire.
The leader of the free world, 80 years old next month, once again appeared to nod off this week, this time at a maternal health event in the Oval Office.
Trump was leading the event about support for mothers, fertility treatment and lower healthcare costs, the point of which was due to be an announcement that the Labour Department was creating a fertility treatment benefit option which employers could offer separately from standard health insurance.
Alas, it was sidetracked by a signature ramble by Trump, followed by him appearing to drop off. He told reporters “the first time I really heard about the fertility was through Katie [Britt, Republican senator from Alabama]. She said, ‘Sir, we have to do something’. And I’m a quick study. So I learned everything there is to learn in about three, four minutes, and I became the father of fertility.”
Then, as Britt spoke, cameras focused on the president seated in front of her as his eyes closed and he appeared to doze off at his own event.
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When Idrees Ali, a national security correspondent at Reuters, posted this on X together with a video, it swiftly earned the rebuke “He was blinking, you absolute moron” from Rapid Response 47, an official White House account set up in January this year to “hold fake news accountable”.
But it’s hardly the first time the soon-to-be octogenarian has used a public event to catch a few Zs. Here are a few more…
May 4, 2026: At a White House small business summit, Trump appeared to doze off while standing and made a confusing remark about ending “employment” with a pen. The president appeared to fall asleep while standing as administrator of the Small Business Administration Kelly Loeffler spoke, before startling attendees by declaring he could “end employment with the swipe of a pen”. It appeared he may have meant to say “unemployment”.
March 24, 2026: Trump appeared to doze off during a crime-stopping task force meeting in Memphis while cabinet members and local officials took turns bashing the previous administration and praising him. The president, seated inside a hangar at the Memphis Air National Guard Base, was photographed with his eyes closed and his head occasionally jerking. Trump also used the meeting to tell attendees, there to discuss crime-reducing measures across the state: “I love Elvis. I never met Elvis. I met them all – I met Sinatra, I met all of them – but I never met Elvis. Sometimes I feel I should tell a little fib and say I knew him well. I love Elvis.”
December 2, 2025: At a meeting of his cabinet, Trump began by making a reference to his predecessor as “Sleepy Joe” before declaring that he was “sharper than I was 25 years ago” and rebuking the New York Times for a lengthy and detailed story the previous week laying out how he appeared to have slowed down during his second term. “Trump is sharp, but they’re not sharp,” he said.
He then spent the next three hours struggling to stay awake, even struggling to rouse himself to hear commerce secretary Howard Lutnick hail “the greatest cabinet ever for the greatest president ever”. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt maintained afterwards that Trump had been “listening attentively and running the entire three-hour marathon cabinet meeting”.
November 6, 2025: Participating in an announcement about cutting prices for popular weight-loss drugs, Trump once again appeared to drift off. As images of the president appeared across social media, California governor Gavin Newsom posted: “DOZY DON IS BACK.”
White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said: “The president was not sleeping; in fact, he spoke throughout and took many questions from the press during this announcement which represents a historic reduction in prices for Americans on two drugs that help Americans struggling with diabetes, heart disease, obesity and other conditions.”
April 21, 2025: After apparently demanding a front row seat at the funeral of Pope Francis to make sure the cameras were on him and Melania, Trump appeared to have once more fallen asleep.
May 14, 2024: At his own trial for allegedly paying hush money in Manhattan, Trump appeared to fall asleep with his mouth open just minutes after his lawyers started to grill his former attorney Michael Cohen. Moments after his attorney Todd Blanche began cross-examining Cohen after a lunch recess, Trump sank back into his chair and closed his eyes. His head then dropped slightly with his mouth open before he appeared to snap awake and jerk his head as his eyes remained shut.
Trump denied sleeping at the courthouse, writing on Truth Social: “Contrary to the FAKE NEWS MEDIA, I don’t fall asleep during the Crooked D.A.’s Witch Hunt, especially not today. I simply close my beautiful blue eyes, sometimes, listen intensely, and take it ALL in!!!”
Whatever you say, Mr President. Now, isn’t it time for your bedtime?
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