As the inauguration date for Donald Trump‘s second term approaches, people are left to wonder how far Trump will push the envelope. No one can forget Trump’s first term. Right from the day of swearing in to his last days at the White House, the 45th president of the United States gave the media some memorable, though cringe-worthy moments.
From hugging the national flag to shoving NATO leaders, Donald Trump has redefined what it means to be the most powerful person in the world. He lacks the swag of Obama or the charm of Clinton, but his narcissism overshadowed his presidency. Before we prepare ourselves for his next tenure, let’s take a look at some of the most cringeworthy moments of Donald Trump from his first term.
Trump being obsessed with crowd sizes is not hidden from anyone. After his inauguration in January 2017, Trump commanded Sean Spicer to stand in-front of some of the top media houses and claim to have the biggest crowd ever for any swearing-in ceremony.
.@PressSec Sean Spicer on inauguration numbers: “I am saying it is the total largest audience witnessed in person and around the globe.” pic.twitter.com/iVLaCdOfpk
— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 23, 2017
To drive his point home, the White House even used the images from the Obama inauguration. Though these “facts” were checked and refuted by many media outlets, Trump still insisted, “There were a million and a half people in the crowd.”
Early estimates put the crowd gathered for Trump’s inauguration at about one-third the size of Obama’s in 2009 https://t.co/v0rGLZv00N pic.twitter.com/97elpXg1CS
— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) January 20, 2017
Trump being handsy and ‘touching things he should not be touching’ is a well known fact. During the campaign for the 2016 election, then-candidate Donald Trump hugged and mishandled the national flag many times. It may be that everyone shows their affection for the symbol of their democracy differently, however, no one has ever done it like Donald Trump.
Here’s Trump hugging the flag for some reason pic.twitter.com/Ylgyr54R0m
— VICE News (@VICENews) June 19, 2018
Apart from touching things, making false claims is something that the media will always associate Trump with. As he took power, during a rally in Florida in February 2017, Trump talked about a terrorist attack in Sweden that, shockingly, didn’t happen.
It seems President Trump made up an attack in Sweden and he said it’s because they took in refugees and migrants. https://t.co/Zs89pU0VT4 pic.twitter.com/0oFv1eGi0A
— AJ+ (@ajplus) February 19, 2017
Donald Trump also claimed that caravans of immigrants are coming to the US from the Southern border. Caravan that, again surprisingly, never appeared. But the glory moment of misinformation from Trump was during Hurricane Dorian–Alabama. Trump appeared with a sharpie drawn map of the hurricane that included Alabama, even when there was no such warning from the officials.
Not only is this illegal, dangerous, irresponsible etc, but who in their right mind thinks no one will notice the, um, sharpie alteration?
This mf Trump is so dumb he thinks everyone is as dumb as he is. pic.twitter.com/DwvhxRDc0V
— Jeffrey Wright 🥜 (@jfreewright) September 4, 2019
Something that the 2nd-time president-elect cannot handle is not being the centre of attention. During his first NATO visit in May 2017, Trump was seen shoving Montenegro Prime Minister aside to take the centre stage. His push and shove was the headline of every major media outlet worldwide and he was mocked for his manners.
Trump appears to shove Montenegro PM so he could be in front of NATO group https://t.co/CJYJJaPahY pic.twitter.com/53sIskTiBM
— Amanda Wills (@AmandaWills) May 25, 2017
There are several such cringeworthy moments that could define Trump’s presidency during the first term but these 5 summarize it very well. Now, it is left to see if the 2nd-time president-elect can out-cringe himself or if he has slowed down with age?
