President Donald Trump was requested throughout a press convention on April 30, 2025, in regards to the doable influence of his tariff insurance policies and commerce conflict with China.
Trump answered that American youngsters ought to put together to make sacrifices at Christmas.
“Perhaps the kids will have two dolls as a substitute of 30 dolls, you already know,” he mentioned, “and perhaps the 2 dolls will value a few bucks greater than they’d usually.”
The New York Instances reported that Trump gave the impression to be telling kids they must handle with fewer toys this yr for the sake of his financial agenda.
Jane Mayer, a reporter with The New Yorker, known as it “Trump’s Marie Antoinette moment.”
This was not the primary − or final − time Trump mentioned one thing that left many Individuals with mouths open and heads shaking.
Hours after his Marie Antoinette second, Trump, whose first 100 days again in workplace have been characterised as chaotic and damaging to democracy, was requested throughout a telephone interview at a town-hall broadcast on NewsNation what the largest mistake he’d made to this point in his second presidency.
“I don’t actually imagine I’ve made any mistakes,” Trump replied.
The viewers, representing a cross part of Individuals, burst out laughing.
Trump’s gaffes aren’t simply a part of his presidency; gaffes are a part of the storied custom of the American presidency. A few of these feedback have clung to presidents and even affected historical past.
Listed below are examples from every president over the previous 50 years or so of statements that at the least a few of them had been embarrassed by or got here to remorse. Every was made when the president was serving within the White Home. The quotes are organized chronologically.
Richard Nixon is a law-abiding man
On Nov. 17, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, within the midst of the Watergate scandal that might finish his presidency, defended himself towards costs of corruption.
“Folks have gotten to know whether or not or not their president is a criminal,” Nixon mentioned. “Effectively, I’m not a crook. I’ve earned the whole lot I’ve acquired.”
As a substitute of quelling the scandal, as Nixon hoped, his phrases produced the alternative response. He resigned from the presidency 9 months later in August 1974.
Gerald Ford forgets the Chilly Warfare
Gerald Ford, Nixon’s vice president who became president after Nixon’s resignation, subsequently ran for election in 1976.
Throughout one in all his televised debates towards Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter, Ford inexplicably claimed the Soviet Union didn’t management Japanese Europe.
“There isn’t a Soviet domination of Japanese Europe,” Ford mentioned, “and there by no means will likely be below a Ford administration.”
To which the moderator, New York Instances editor Might Frankel, mentioned, “I’m sorry, what?”
Ford’s comment was so outrageously incorrect that it may have contributed to his defeat within the tight presidential election.
Jimmy Carter will get recommendation from his teen
Carter defeated Ford and was elected in 1976. He ran for reelection towards Republican nominee Ronald Reagan in 1980. Throughout one in all their debates, Carter mentioned he sought the recommendation of his 13-year-old daughter, Amy, on what was a very powerful concern dealing with America.
“She mentioned she thought it was nuclear weaponry,” Carter mentioned, “and the management of nuclear arms.”
Carter tried to point out that arms management was a topic that had nice resonance to even 13-year-olds. As a substitute, it left viewers puzzled why he had inserted his daughter into the controversy. A wire service story on the time summarized the response by saying that reporters protecting the controversy winced and others groaned.
Ronald Reagan assaults Russia
Reagan, a former tv and film actor who defeated Carter in the 1980 presidential election, was generally known as “the Great Communicator” for his eloquence.
A well-known anti-Communist, Reagan was not at all times cautious about what he mentioned.
Earlier than a speech on Aug. 11, 1984, Reagan joked during a sound check, “I’ve signed laws that can outlaw Russia endlessly. We start bombing in 5 minutes.”
The joke on the open mic, which was not broadcast live but leaked later, resulted in a Soviet red alert − and briefly moved the U.S. and Soviet Union towards conflict.
George H.W. Bush eats phrase salad
Reagan’s successor, his vice president, George H.W. Bush, by comparability was no nice communicator. His phrases got here out of his mouth and appeared to go in separate methods.
“I’ve opinions of my very own, sturdy opinions,” Bush said, “however I don’t at all times agree with them.”
Invoice Clinton is or isn’t, perhaps
Democrat Bill Clinton defeated George H.W. Bush within the 1992 presidential election.
Clinton’s presidency was dogged with accusations of unethical behavior and extramarital affairs. Clinton, in testimony earlier than a grand jury investigating his affair with White Home intern Monica Lewinsky, was requested whether or not he was mendacity when he advised aides that “there’s nothing occurring” between him and Lewinsky.
“It will depend on what the that means of the word ‘is’ is,” Clinton responded. “If the − if he − if ‘is’ means is and by no means has been, that’s not − that’s one factor.”
Slate journal mentioned that this response might have been the “defining moment” of his presidency and, in doing so, captured his contribution to semantics. As Time journal identified,
“Till then, America hadn’t been positive there was multiple definition of ‘is.’”
George W. Bush’s disgrace
George W. Bush, the son of George H.W. Bush, succeeded Clinton in the White House. Individuals realized that Bush had extra in frequent together with his father than simply the identical final title.
“There’s an previous saying in Tennessee − I do know it’s in Texas,” Bush mentioned, “most likely in Tennessee, that claims, fool me once, disgrace on − disgrace on you. Idiot me − you’ll be able to’t get fooled once more.”
Barack Obama strikes out
Barack Obama, like Reagan, was identified for his humorousness. And like Reagan, Obama realized that not the whole lot was a joking matter.
Whereas showing on “The Tonight Present” with Jay Leno in 2009, Obama mentioned he had improved his bowling by practising on the White Home bowling alley. He advised Leno he had bowled a pedestrian rating of 129, upsetting a sarcastic response from Leno.
Obama then made the next joke: “It’s like the Special Olympics or one thing.”
Obama shortly apologized to the Special Olympics, the athletic competitors for individuals with mental disabilities.
Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images
Joe Biden’s unhealthy day
Trump was first elected president in 2016 however was defeated by Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Trump and Biden confronted one another once more in 2024.
Throughout a tv debate on June 27, 2024, CNN anchor Jake Tapper requested Biden why voters ought to belief him to unravel the immigration disaster. Biden mentioned he modified a regulation that allowed Trump and his administration to separate immigrant households and put youngsters in cages.
Biden’s practice of thought then jumped the tracks.
“And I’m going to proceed to maneuver till we get the entire ban on the − the entire initiative relative to what we’re going to do with extra Border Patrol and extra asylum officers,” Biden mentioned.
“I actually don’t know what he mentioned on the finish of that sentence,” Trump mentioned, “and I don’t think he did, either.”
The identical may very well be mentioned for a lot of what Biden mentioned throughout the debate.
Biden withdrew from the presidential race three weeks after his poor debate efficiency.
