President Donald Trump stunned a North Dakota crowd on Wednesday after joking he would hand the Medal of Honor to himself and his two eldest sons, telling the audience at the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library dedication that 'we'll have a threesome'.
The moment came inside the Burning Hills Amphitheatre in Medora, roughly an hour into the president's speech marking the library's opening on 1 July. Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump were seated in the crowd.
What Trump Said On Stage
The president had been discussing how Theodore Roosevelt and his son, Theodore Roosevelt Jr, form one of only two father-and-son pairs to receive the nation's highest military award, alongside Arthur MacArthur and General Douglas MacArthur.
'Now, as I see my two beautiful sons sitting there, I think I'm going to give one to myself, one to them, and we'll have a threesome,' Trump said.
Trump: I see my two beautiful sons sitting there. I think I'm going to give one medal of honor to myself, one to them, and we'll have a threesome. pic.twitter.com/547JdLCIwL
— Headquarters (@HQNewsNow) July 1, 2026
As gasps and scattered laughter rippled through the room, he quickly revised the offer. 'I'll pick out one of the two. I'll give them the Congressional Medal of Honor for something for their genius at hunting, and I'll get one for taking on Russia, Russia, Russia, or something, and we'll have a third pair now,' he said, before insisting he was 'only kidding'.
Neither the president nor his sons have served in the military.
A Punchline He Keeps Returning To
Wednesday's quip was not a one-off. Trump made a similar joke at a White House ceremony on 18 June, moments before awarding the medal to two living veterans and the family of a third honoured posthumously.
'I wanted to give it to myself, but I was informed I couldn't do it,' he told guests at that event.
The president has returned to the idea throughout his second term, according to Mediaite, which reported he floated it again at a Montana appearance two weeks before the North Dakota speech.
Trump has also admitted his own family talked him out of it. He said he dropped the plan after his two eldest sons told him they could not think of anything he had done to deserve the award.
Why the Medal Carries Such Weight
The Medal of Honor is awarded for 'conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty'. More than 3,500 service members have received it since the American Civil War, many posthumously. The award is presented by the president in the name of Congress.
The award is held sacred by millions of US military families. Hours before the joke, Trump had presented Roosevelt's actual medal, previously kept in the White House Roosevelt Room, to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum at the ribbon-cutting that formally opened the facility.
A Viral Clip Days Before America's 250th Birthday
The remarks came three days before 4 July, when the US marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, a milestone Trump has made central to his second-term messaging.
Footage of the joke spread across X, TikTok, and Reddit within hours. North Dakota columnist Rob Port wrote in the Grand Forks Herald that the joke was 'stupid and wildly offensive', while noting no reasonable person believed the president intended a sexual remark.
The library itself, built near the Badlands that shaped Roosevelt, is privately operated and sits outside the National Archives presidential library system. Its opening was meant to be the day's story. Instead, a two-second punchline about the nation's highest military honour is the clip travelling around the world.
