Trump stares into solar eclipse…and a few other Trump Weirdisms
- Aug 20, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 27, 2024
August 21: On This Day In 2017
EVERYBODY learned this back in April. And also back in 2017: "When there’s a solar eclipse passing over your house, don’t look at it without eclipse glasses, or you risk permanent eye damage." Also, if you’re president of the United States, you should set a good example by NOT looking directly at the sun. But OTDI 2017:
Here are four more weird Trump moments from his time in office:
1. He had to be reminded that he’s a human being. At a meeting in the White House with young victims of gun violence, the cue cards from his PR handlers taught him to sound sympathetic by telling the victims “I hear you.” Despite the urging, he apparently couldn't bring himself to say it.
2. He proclaimed he had wrangled the votes needed to repeal Obamacare, as per his campaign promise. But he whined that he couldn’t get it done because one of his senators was in the hospital and could not vote. So, obviously, it wasn't his fault he broke another promise. However...the senator wasn’t actually in the hospital and Trump never could or did repeal Obamacare.
3. He accused protesters of throwing cans of soup at police, as they are “better than a brick because you can’t throw a brick; it’s too heavy. But a can of soup, you can really put some power into that, right?”
4. We think he was just being inarticulate on this tweet: “For all of the money we are spending, NASA should NOT be talking about going to the Moon - We did that 50 years ago. They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science!”
Get Weirder; Dive Deeper
CNN reports on Trump and the eclipse
CNBC has more on Trump’s bad eclipse behavior
Vanity Fair reports on Trump’s fake “senator in the hospital claim"
Buzzfeed News has the story -- and the photos of the notes -- for gun victims
Politico reports, and YouTube has the bizarre video, of the “soup can” episode
The Guardian reports on Trump’s moon/mars knowledge
On This Day In The Trump Administration: Trump stares into sun during eclipse without glasses; Trump is weird