President Donald Trump delivered a rambling response to a question about his push to crack down on Harvard University that left many political observers struggling to understand his answer.
The baffling moment unfolded Wednesday as Trump called into a NewsNation town hall hosted by Chris Cuomo, Bill O’Reilly, and Stephen A. Smith. When Trump was asked by Smith to explain his criticism of the Ivy League school, the MAGA leader instead launched into a puzzling anecdote about Harlem and the 2024 election.
“We had riots in Harlem, in Harlem, and frankly, if you look at what’s gone on, and people from Harlem went up and they protested, Stephen,” Trump said. “And they protested very strongly against Harvard. They happened to be on my side.”
"You know, I got a very high Black vote. You know that. Very, very high Black vote. It was a very great compliment,” Trump added as part of his long-winded remark.
The comments immediately raised eyebrows over social media as observers tried to parse the connection.
“What the hell is this?” asked Republican pollster Sarah Longwell on X. “Our president’s brain is mashed potatoes.”
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“This man’s brain is cooked,” added political observer Elika Sadeghi in her own X post.
“I just learned that Black people in Harlem completely agree with Trump’s policy on Harvard, and they all love Trump,” MeidasTouch.com editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski posted on X. “Steven A really kicking ass at this whole politics thing too,” he added.
“Trump somehow hallucinated that people in Harlem rioted to support his crackdown on Harvard?!?” Democratic activist Armand Domalewski told his X followers.
“But then at the end he segues to Harvard—after an aide obviously put a HARVARD NOT HARLEM note in front of him,” author Kurt Andersen posted on X.
“Phone interviews with bad reception combined with a dramatic weave. The looks on the faces of the hosts says it all,” The Bulwark’s Sam Stein wrote on X.
“Wait,” S.V. Date, a senior White House correspondent at HuffPost, told his social media followers. “He’s phoning in a town hall?”
