President Donald Trump is being mocked for resurfacing his insulting nickname for his predecessor – "Sleepy Joe Biden” – shortly before once again appearing to drop off himself at a public event.
Trump made the comment while announcing the plans for a new $15 billion steel plant in Iowa, which he says is expected to begin production in 2030, to create 1,750 permanent jobs. Sitting at the Resolute Desk, he said that the project never would have happened "under Sleepy Joe Biden," a nickname he has been using for several years.
Other officials then took turns to speak, at which point Trump appeared to begin drifting off. Video footage and photographs show the president's head lolled to the right, his eyes closed and his head pointed downwards.
The president is regularly seen in a similar pose, prompting critics to say he is falling asleep – something Trump himself and the White House have fiercely denied in the past.
Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, shared a screenshot of the latest moment on X alongside the caption "Sleepy who?"
Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom also jumped at the chance to take a shot at the president.
"President McConnell is looking great," Newsom's "press office" account shared on X, referencing Senator Mitch McConnell, who has recently re-emerged in D.C. looking frail and confused after weeks of convalescing following a fall.
Journalist Molly Jong-Fast gave Trump a tongue-in-cheek defense, noting that he appeared to have fallen asleep while Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was speaking.
"In trumps defense howard is very very boring," she wrote.
This is just the latest time Trump has been accused of literally falling asleep on the job.
Back in January, the president held an event in the Oval Office celebrating the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, and appeared to fall asleep during the proceedings. Two little girls were standing off to the side watching.
A month later, Trump attended a meeting of his newly-created "Board of Peace" where he was spotted with his eyes closed, head lolled, and jaw slacked as the speakers he invited gave their addresses.
He made headlines again in May when he appeared to fall asleep during a Memorial Day ceremony, and frustrated New York Knicks fans when he appeared to nod off during the NBA Finals Game 3.
The 80-year-old was accused of falling asleep at his UFC 250 birthday party and at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, even though the last time he was at such a dinner someone allegedly tried to kill him.
Critics claim he fell asleep at the funeral for Senator Lindsey Graham in July, and again in August while Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr was discussing vaccine policy in the Oval Office.
Then, in September, Trump was accused of falling asleep during a reading of the names of the victims killed at the Pentagon during the 9/11 terror attacks.
The White House told The Independent in a statement at the time that the president was actually "solemnly listening" and remembering the victims.
Davis Ingle, a White House spokesman, provided the following statement to The Independent on Tuesday:
“President Trump’s sharpness, unmatched energy, and historic accessibility stand in stark contrast to what we saw during the last administration when Democrats and the legacy media intentionally covered up Joe Biden’s serious mental and physical decline from the American people. President Trump is the sharpest and most accessible President in American history who is working nonstop to solve problems and deliver on his promises, and he remains in excellent health. Anyone claiming the President was asleep is lying.”
Trump's staff has deployed several explanations to explain why the president has been more frequently closing his eyes and going slack.
When he isn't "solemnly listening," Trump may be "blinking." White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair that Trump "is not sleeping" when he is seen with his head leaned and his eyes closed, and insisted that "he's fine."
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on January 1 this year, Trump himself shrugged off accusations he had been falling asleep in public.
He said: “I’ll just close. It’s very relaxing to. Sometimes they’ll take a picture of me blinking, blinking, and they’ll catch me with the blink.”
