President Donald Trump signed a proclamation restoring competitive fitness tests for schoolchildren, and the Oval Office event caught many viewers by surprise.
The 79-year-old president veered off-topic from the Presidential Fitness Test Award to discuss golf, auto racing and other subjects found in a newspaper's sports section, and he also made some eyebrow-raising claims about the Iran war to the group of government officials, celebrities and children.
"The optics of this Oval Office event are absolutely insane. get a load of this. crazytown," marveled journalist Aaron Rupar.
"Aaron, is this AI-generated?" replied Mother Jones' David Corn.
"You could watch this tableau for the rest of your life, spotting every strange aspect of it," added political scientist David Darmofal. "Is RFK checking his cell phone? Look at McMahon huffing in disgust at Trump & what he's saying in front of the kids. It's like a Richard Scarry drawing, all the stuff that's going on."
"I'm listening to Trump gush over Gary Player and Roger Penske and Indy cars in D.C. at an event that allegedly has something to do with children and physical activity and I'm fairly certain he's insane," goggled X user That Rude Cat.
"Gary Player (the old short guy dressed in black) is a South African golfer – one of the greats – who once supported the country’s apartheid regime. He eventually opposed it and earned praise from Mandela. Now he backs the guy elected to do ethnic cleansing in the US," pointed out writer Denny Carter.
"It is really remarkable how he seamlessly transitions from nuclear weapons to the Dow," noted widely followed Bluesky user Gravel Influencer. "No pause. No segue. It's truly just an unhinged string of thoughts pouring out of his mouth."
"He just repeats his greatest hits to whomever he's speaking to," agreed popular Bluesky user Cynthia Fraase. "Whether it's appropriate or not doesn't matter. He's like a wind up toy at this point."
"A father of 5 who has multiple grandchildren, yet he honestly has absolutely no idea how to talk to children," sighed Bluesky user Thia2.
"Tell them about the time you identified a picture of a giraffe – they will be dazzled!" suggested writer Mark Harris.
"Some people disapprove but I think this is good practice for the kids to learn patience and empathy when their grandparents get dementia," joked attorney Ken White, responding to a clip of Trump asking the children whether they'd heard of "Barack Hussein Obama."
"A constant reminder that the election of a black man literally broke the minds of at least a third of the nation," said Bluesky user futbolsound.