WASHINGTON (AP) — As Tuesday’s White House cabinet meeting passed the two-hour mark, President Donald Trump’s eyes widened and closed. His budget director busied himself with Fluffy Cloud. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was lucky enough to speak early, but the title on his nameplate was wrong.
The sleepy, and sometimes slippery, gathering ended with a flurry of news. Trump declared that he did not want Somalis in the U.S. and Hegseth cited the “fog of war” to defend a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-carrying boat in the Caribbean Sea in September.
The President began by noting that 2026 would be the last time his Cabinet would meet. And, while marathon sessions with his top advisers have become Trump’s trademark since returning to the White House, this latest installment felt like an occasional vacation break.
Trump offered lengthy opening remarks rehashing his major previous policy announcements from recent months. He also repeated old grievances, returning to his lie about winning the 2020 election.
‘go fast’
The president then gave each cabinet member a chance to speak, announcing, “We’re leaving soon.” This did not stop many cabinet members from offering lengthy presentations.
Hegseth went first and praised the Trump administration’s move to rename his agency the War Department — something that can’t be done without an official act of Congress. But Hegseth’s front nameplate labeled him “Secretary of War”, which included an incorrect double “S” that quickly became a source of online ridicule.
After that, as each official spoke in turn, TV cameras trained on Trump showed him struggling to stay alert. The President sometimes closed his eyes and sat on the chair.
Trump’s apparent sleepiness comes after criticism of a recent New York Times story examining his schedule and stamina at age 79. Trump again criticized the Times story at the start of Tuesday’s meeting, even slipping into the third person to reassure everyone involved that “Trump is sharp.”
Another sign that things were dragging on came from Budget Director Russell Vought, who was seen sketching a bucolic scene on White House letterhead.
Vought captured mountains framed by pine trees above the clouds that resembled the kind that public television legend Bob Ross preferred to crowd his serene landscape paintings. The budget chief also sketched an arrow under his mountain. It was not clear where to indicate.
Confrontation affords the message
As Trump’s advice to keep things tight was defied, some members of the Cabinet also defied the president in his presentation on the issue of affordability.
Trump made a point in his opening remarks to call concerns raised by Democrats about rising costs “a con job.” That didn’t stop many of his administration’s top voices from earnestly detailing how they were trying to lower prices nationwide.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins talked about financial pressures on farmers, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant called affordability a “crisis,” and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner said millions of Americans becoming first-time homebuyers was an example of how the administration was making progress to achieve greater affordability.
The last speaker was Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke for several minutes and admitted: “I know I’m last, so I want to be quick. But there’s a lot to cover.”
All told, Tuesday’s meeting lasted more than two hours. That fell short of Trump’s Cabinet meeting record: an August marathon that stretched to three hours and 17 minutes.
Even so, the president admitted that the latest meeting was running long. “We’re spending a lot of time here,” he said.
Trump wrapped things up by taking questions from reporters, but only after jokingly asking, “Then, do you want to ask any questions?” He also pointed to a reporter carrying a boom mic to capture the sound of the cabinet meeting and playfully offered, “How strong are you?”
“You’ve been holding it for two hours,” the president continued, drawing laughter from cabinet members. “There are very few people who can do this. I’m so proud of you.”
A news question and answer
The journalist’s question shook the indifference.
A second strike was ordered on the Venezuelan boat in early September, and Hegseth said he did not see any survivors in the water when it began. He said “things were on fire” and cited the “fog of war” to defend what had happened. He said he “didn’t stick around” for the remainder of the Sept. 2 mission after the initial strike.
In response to a later question, Trump declared that he did not want Somali immigrants in the US, saying that residents of the war-torn East African country should stay there and try to fix their homeland. He also accused Somalis of being too dependent on US aid programs while offering little to the nation in return.
This drew applause from his cabinet, although the questions were abruptly rushed out of the room by reporters. Trump punctuated the conclusion by slapping his hand on the table twice, pushing back his chair, standing up and patting Hegseth on the shoulder.
