Awkward Donald Trump Moments Caught On Camera

Various absurd remedies were promoted during the COVID-19 pandemic (who can forget Joe Rogan promoting horse de-wormer to avoid being vaccinated). Donald Trump jumped on this alternative medicine bandwagon when he appeared at a coronavirus task force conference in 2020 and suggested that disinfectant was a viable means of curing the virus. All the while, he repeatedly turned to the White House coronavirus response coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx, who was evidently mortified. 

"And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute, and is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning?" the president asked Birx as she sat frozen in her seat. He proceeded to go on about applying light and heat to supposedly cure the virus. "Maybe you can, maybe you can't. I'm not a doctor, but I'm like a person that has a good you-know-what," he added, referring to his head, following a frosty response from the doctor. "Deborah, have you ever heard of that? The heat and the light?" Birx swiftly assured Trump that it was not an effective treatment in fighting off COVID symptoms.

Reflecting on the incident the following year, Birx confessed that she still has a hard time living with the cringe. "Frankly, I didn't know how to handle that episode," she told ABC News. "I still think about it every day."

In an embarrassing moment straight out of the Dubya era, Donald Trump had to be reminded to fulfill his presidential duties. In 2017, he gave a speech in which he announced the reversal of many Obamacare policies. Repealing Obamacare had long been at the top of the president's agenda, leading to condemnation from critics who argued that such initiatives would lead to greater discrimination against sick and disabled people.

Following his speech, Trump thanked the crowd, shook hands with his colleagues, and then proceeded to head out the door following the signing ceremony — without actually signing the document. A frantic Mike Pence then rushed over to the president, reminding him, "Mr. President, you need to sign it." The moment led to some awkward laughter, with Trump attempting to regain his cool by quipping, "I'm only signing it because it costs nothing."

This wasn't the first time Pence had to remind Trump to perform his basic presidential responsibilities. Also that year, he walked out of another signing ceremony without signing documents. Again, Pence rushed up to Trump to remind him of his duties, though this time the president appeared to tell his colleague that he would sign the docs later. "This hugely awkward moment lays bare the tension within the WH," news anchor Brian Taff wrote on X.

Donald Trump doesn't have a great track record when meeting world leaders (he once appeared to refuse to shake hands with former German Chancellor Angela Merkel). But his 2017 encounter with French President Emmanuel Macron was positively toe-curling in its sheer awkwardness. During their meeting before the NATO Summit in Brussels, Trump took the lead in extending a hand to the French president, except it was the handshake that never ended. The two men were locked in what looked like an agonizingly long arm-wrestling match, made all the more painful to watch due to the simultaneous sounds of cameras clicking.

As Reuters noted, the handshake was so vigorous that the pair's knuckles turned white. Discussing the awkward moment with French outlet Journal du Dimanche, Macron claimed that his bizarre hold over Trump was intentional. "My handshake with him is not innocent," he said, "it is not the alpha and omega of a policy but a moment of truth." In their subsequent meetings, Trump and Macron continued with the bizarre handshakes, each one appearing more forceful than the last.

Guy Snodgrass, former chief speechwriter for Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, claimed in his book "Holding the Line" that Trump was just as confused about the apparent arm-wrestling match as the rest of us. "I just returned from France," Trump said after reportedly bursting into a Pentagon meeting (via Politico). "Did you see President Macron's handshake? He wouldn't let go. He just kept holding on."

Trust Donald Trump to come up with the most bizarre nonsequiturs when discussing issues as somber as the Syrian Civil War. Following his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Largo in 2017, he waxed lyrical about chocolate cake before declaring that missiles had landed on ... Iraq. 

"We're now having dessert," he recalled to Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo (via CNN). "And we had the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you've ever seen. And President Xi was enjoying it. So what happens is, I said, 'We've just launched 59 missiles heading to Iraq.'" A clearly baffled Bartiromo interjected, asking the president if he actually meant Syria. "Yes, heading toward Syria. And I want you to know that," a confused-looking Trump clarified in this cringeworthy exchange.

As critics argued, it was rather bizarre that Trump remembered what cake he was eating over diplomatic talks, but not which country he was launching missiles at. Over on X, some suggested that Bartiromo appeared totally bemused as Trump recounted the anecdote in this quintessentially idiosyncratic manner. "She's practically giddy," wrote one user (via BuzzFeed News). "Like she can't believe he's telling this story like this." Another suggested that the faux pas was reflective of Trump's shameless self-promotion: "Trump wants everyone to know Mar-a-Lago has the most beautiful chocolate cake, and he fired missiles at Iraq, or Syria, or somewhere over there."

In celebration of Black History Month in 2017, Donald Trump held a meeting to honor and praise the legacies of prolific African Americans. Except, he referred to the lauded abolitionist Frederick Douglass in the present tense. In a bewildering press conference, which also included an unsolicited tangent about a Martin Luther King statue and fake news, Trump declared, "Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who's done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice." Douglass died in 1895.

Later, then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer tried his best to explain away the faux pas, albeit rather clumsily. "I think there's contributions — I think he wants to highlight the contributions that he has made," he said, per The Washington Post. "And I think through a lot of the actions and statements that he's going to make, I think the contributions of Frederick Douglass will become more and more." It has been claimed that Spicer's own comments suggest that he also thinks Douglass is alive.

Subsequently, The Atlantic argued that Trump's ramblings exemplify that he likely knows very little about who Douglass was, and has little regard for Black history. Meanwhile, Esquire lamented that Trump's remarks were embarrassing and unprofessional, questioning why he wasn't briefed before the event. However, in a statement to HuffPo, the Douglass family said that they still refer to the abolitionist in the present tense to honor his legacy.

Donald Trump proved that even something as simple as sipping water can be thoroughly awkward. In yet another cringe-inducing moment, the president was discussing his trip to Asia during a press conference in 2017, when he paused to find a glass of water. "They don't have water, that's okay," he shrugged. To make the situation even more embarrassing, the president was informed that there was a bottle of water to his left. He proceeded to turn the bottle to the side and open it in a bizarre motion that appeared to mimic the movements of a wind-up doll, before using two hands to take a sip. "This is how I tell my 4-year-old to drink water ... with both hands so she doesn't spill it," joked the BBC's Sonali Shah on X.

What made the faux pas even more bizarre is the fact that Trump had previously mocked rival Marco Rubio for needing a water break during a speech in 2013. "Help me! I need water!" Trump dramatically exclaimed during his presidential campaign trail in 2016.

Inevitably, Rubio took the opportunity to throw some serious shade on X. "Similar, but needs work on his form," the senator wrote above a video of the now infamous incident. "Has to be done in one single motion and eyes should never leave the camera. But not bad for his first time." Others pointed out that, unlike Trump, at least Rubio drinks water with one hand.

Diplomatic relations between world leaders are supposed to be somber and professional affairs. Yet, Donald Trump managed to turn a 2018 phone call with then-Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto into one of the most awkward exchanges in recent memory. In a clip that's painful to watch, Trump turned his phone on, expecting Nieto on the other line, only to be met with static. "Enrique?" pleaded the red-faced president, who began fiddling with buttons on the phone before asking his aides to hook Nieto up to the call. "A lot of people waiting," Trump noted as collective toes no doubt curled in the Oval Office. 

The awkwardness didn't end there. After concluding the phone call, Trump declared that he had made a deal with Canada. After reporters expressed their confusion, the exhausted-looking POTUS noted, "We made the deal with Mexico."

Some suggested that the embarrassing moment was a scene straight out of "The Office" or "Veep." Broadcasting a diplomatic phone call was out of the ordinary in the first place, but a Trump administration official told The Washington Post that POTUS was adamant that the public should be in on the call, as reflective of his commitment to showmanship. "[Trump] thought talking about sealing the deal in front of reporters would be not just interesting but important for the American people to see ... It was coordinated with the Mexican government," the official explained.