President Donald Trump struggled to stay alert during a White House roundtable on energy prices. A 56-minute video from the event showed the 79-year-old president sitting with a drooping face and eyes closed several times while administration officials and tech executives spoke nearby.
The meeting focused on Trump’s new Ratepayer Protection Pledge. This is a commitment backed by the administration that asks major technology companies to cover the extra costs linked to building artificial intelligence data centers rather than passing those costs to households. The White House reported that seven companies accepted the pledge on March 4, and the president described the policy as a way to protect consumers from rising electricity prices.
The Daily Beast noted that Trump looked “particularly exhausted” during the session. He was seen more than once with his head down and eyes shut while others spoke. At one point, he jolted back to attention after Science Advisor Michael Kratsios finished speaking.
The White House live page includes a video from March 5 showing tech companies signing the pledge. There is also a separate White House proclamation dated March 4 that describes the policy announced at the event.
According to the White House and reporting from Reuters before the meeting, the pledge targets major AI and cloud companies whose data centers are increasing power demand. The administration stated that participating companies agreed to “build, bring, or buy” the electricity they need and pay for upgrades necessary to support their facilities.
Reuters mentioned that the White House expected leaders from major firms like Google, Meta, and OpenAI to attend as Trump sought to make electricity costs a political issue ahead of the midterms.
During the roundtable, Trump claimed that data centers have a poor image with the public. “They need some PR help, because people think that if a data center goes in, their electricity prices are going to go up,” he stated, according to the Daily Beast. The meeting concluded with Trump signing the proclamation and leaving without answering questions from reporters.
The White House pushed back strongly against any claims that Trump’s appearance indicated a health issue. White House spokesman Davis Ingle told the Daily Beast, “President Trump is the sharpest, most accessible, and energetic president in American history.” He also accused the outlet of spreading “baseless conspiracy theories” and said Trump had spent the day focused on lowering costs for Americans.
This episode occurred during another week of public focus on Trump’s physical appearance. The Daily Beast reported that a red rash had recently been visible behind and below Trump’s right ear.
White House physician Sean Barbabella told the outlet that the president was using a “common cream” as part of a “preventative skin treatment.” This report indicated that the redness was expected to last for a few weeks.
Trump’s appearance on Wednesday is unlikely to reduce the scrutiny. The video quickly became a new talking point online, with the meeting intended to highlight an energy and tech policy announcement instead turning into renewed questions about the president’s appearance on camera.
