President Donald Trump once again appeared to withdraw from engaging with others’ speeches, seeming to disconnect from the voices around him as they spoke.
The 80-year-old public figure repeatedly grapples with staying alert during public appearances. At moments, something in the audience catches his eye as he glances down from the dais. At other times, he appears to fall into the same trap he has often accused former President Joe Biden of falling into.
Trump has returned to the spotlight after footage from a recent state dinner at the White House became the scene of another on-camera snooze-fest.
Both he and Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered remarks to an audience comprising government officials, business leaders, and members of the media in the East Room on Sept. 24.
First Lady Melania Trump and Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan were also in attendance. Yet it seemed Xi’s words could not hold Trump’s attention for long.
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Xi, 73, addressed the room as an interpreter rendered his remarks into English. Trump sat behind him to his left, with the two wives seated to his right.
At one point, Xi announced that China would donate two giant pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, to Zoo Atlanta in Georgia in the near future as part of a new 10-year conservation agreement.
Trump could be seen shifting in his chair before he began blinking repeatedly. He also appeared to keep his eyes closed for extended intervals.
The MAGA leader’s evident struggle to resist drifting off morphed into a brighter facial expression. He eventually started smiling after the interpreter delivered the pandas news in English.
Trump’s latest instance of fighting off sleep sparked a wave of reactions online. Critics did not spare the aging veteran for what they saw as a shameful representation of the nation.
The notion that Trump had to battle sleep during a televised meeting prompted an X user to post, “Trump could barely keep his eyes open during a press conference with Xi.”
“DONALD TRUMP IS FALLING ASLEEP. Trump struggles to keep his eyes open as Xi announces a huge gift for the American people. This is absolute humiliation on the world stage,” read a tweet.
One commenter wrote, “The irony is he called Joe Biden, ‘Sleepy Joe.’ I never saw Joe Biden trying to stay awake at public events. This is an embarrassment to America.”
“He is amazing!” exclaimed one sarcastic poster. “He’s sleeping sitting up. [He’s] the only person in the world who can do this; he’s the best, if not one of the best. No one’s ever seen anything like it before. People are saying we have the best president who can do anything.”
Trump critic continued claiming that the president was either talking or sleeping, with seemingly nothing in between.
One comment read, “With the whole world watching… Donald Trump falls fast asleep while Xi Jinping is speaking at the US-China summit in Washington. Something is very, very wrong with Trump. He is clearly unfit to serve.”
“This is by far the most fierce and enduring battle with sleep that I’ve ever witnessed,” someone else joked.
Attending events with his global counterparts has not prevented Trump from dozing off in the past. In February, cameras captured him dozing during a Board of Peace meeting in Washington, D.C.
The Trump-founded international organization brought together representatives from nations including Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, India, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.
Despite growing evidence that the president is less energetic and less physically fit in his later years, the administration has maintained that appearances can be deceptive.
“I’ve never seen him fall asleep. On the contrary, the guy doesn’t sleep, which is a big problem because he calls me at 2 in the morning,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the House Foreign Relations Committee in June.
Rubio, 55, faced substantial criticism for defending his boss, particularly after the former U.S. senator sat front and center in July when Trump appeared to take a catnap during Sen. Lindsey Graham’s funeral.
The White House pushed back against claims that Trump has struggled to keep his eyes open in public. An image from the Oval Office prompted a sharp, insult-laden response.
Back in May, the administration’s Rapid Response page offered the defense for a closed-eyed, slumped Trump by tweeting, “He was blinking, you absolute moron.”
