President Donald Trump maintained his legacy of going off-script and leaving everyone in an uneasy position. During the White House lunch, Trump randomly assigned one of his top officials a peculiar nickname and then asked a perplexing question.
The awkward moment occurred during a lunch party hosted at the White House Rose Garden for Republican lawmakers. Trump delivered a long speech where he blamed Democrats for the ongoing government shutdown, which is now entering its fourth week.
Trump abruptly stopped in the middle of his speech after he recognized a familiar face in the crowd. He then decided to reveal his new nickname, forgetting that he was addressing an important issue.
“We have Darth Vader. You know Darth Vader, right? Darth Vader is a man who, I think, is sitting right — is that Darth? Stand up please. Does everybody know — they call him Darth Vader, I call him a fine man. But he’s cutting Democrat priorities and they’re never gonna get them back,” Trump commented as he sounded carefree and vindictive. “They’ve caused this, and they’ve really allowed us to do it,” Trump said.
The nickname was aimed at Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget. A strong but unknown individual who has emerged as one of Trump’s strongest enforcers throughout the shutdown.
Trump: “We have Darth Vader. You know Darth Vader, right? Darth Vader is a man who is sitting — is that Darth? Stand up please. Does everybody know — they call him Darth Vader, I call him a fine man. But he’s cutting Democrat priorities and they’re never gonna get them back.” pic.twitter.com/MHKWUlw9Bx
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 21, 2025
Vought is the one who created the controversial conservative policy blueprint Project 2025. He also used the government freeze to push through the sweeping budget cuts. Ironically, he targeted projects in several Democratic-led states by overlooking thousands of layoffs.
There was a time when Trump tried to distance himself from Project 2025; he called it “someone else’s plan.” However, now it seems like the President is fully embracing the architect to a point where he is giving him villainous nicknames straight out of Star Wars.
Social media was quick to call out the president.“I’m sorry, what is happening here? As a non-American, I assumed this was AI because it makes less sense than usual but alas, it is real and I am once again flabbergasted,” a Threads user commented.
One fed-up user added, “What on earth is he rambling about? He isn’t making any sense” while another asked in frustration, “Why does he name drop, then ask if people know who he’s talking about like he’s setting up some stand-up bit?”
“Is Donald Trump displaying signs of senile dementia?,” a baffled user asked. “I’m so tired of ‘Republican priorities’ vs ‘Democrat priorities.’ How about American priorities — food prices, schools, housing, healthcare, peace. Trump stop dividing us!” a more critical user pointed out.
“Government shutdown or not, Trump’s framing it as a victory tour: if you oppose him, your priorities are gone forever,” this X user observed.
During the speech, Trump claimed that his government was now cutting funding for large projects in Democratic-run states and localities, including the $20 billion New York Gateway Tunnel project.
