U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media aboard Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, in Maryland, U.S., August 2, 2026. REUTERS/Daniel Heuer
President Donald Trump shocked onlookers on Sunday while speaking with reporters on Air Force One.
On the flight home from New Jersey, where Trump, 80, won the Bedminster Senior Club Championship, he talked about recent deals his administration made, including receiving revenue from Venezuelan oil sales and from investments in companies like Intel. During the spiel, Trump made an inadvertent admission that caught several analysts off-guard.
"I make good deals," Trump said. "With Intel, I made $75 billion. For the country, I didn't make it for me. I made it for the country. I backed Intel. It's the hottest stock right now on the stock exchange. So, we made about $75 billion to $80 billion."
Trump's comments sparked a firestorm online.
"Oh," Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) posted on X.
"Thank you, Comrade President!" S.V. Dáte, White House correspondent at HuffPost, posted on X.
"Communist," Norman Ornstein, a political scientist and contributing editor at The Atlantic, posted on X.
"No explanation for if/how the U.S. govt will unwind these positions (i.e., "make $75 billion"). Selling could be a major signal problem for the companies," Dan Primack, business editor at Axios, posted on X.