President Donald Trump was in a pickle on Friday when he had some trouble with a big umbrella while boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews. It was a blustery, rainy day and he was headed to a weekend retreat at Mar-a-Lago. When he attempted to take the open umbrella with him through the narrow door of the plane, he had a struggle.
The footage of this accident went viral over the internet, and it brought back memories of another such accident that occurred in 2018. This mishap happened at a time when there was widespread criticism of how he was handling international tariffs on trade, which was anyway ruffling a few feathers in the financial markets.
Donald Trump struggles to get his umbrella inside Air Force One before he heads out to Mar-a-Lago to go golfing again.
This man is a global laughingstock. pic.twitter.com/FtTMt0XeHl
— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) April 11, 2025
As clips of the blooper circulated on X (which used to be Twitter), people couldn’t help but chuckle at the recurring slapstick. “Still hasn’t mastered the umbrella?” quipped @jgoodloejapan, with @ckenny8799 chiming in, “All these years, and he still can’t figure it out.”
This small yet amusing misstep with the umbrella quickly became a hot topic on social media, serving as a reminder of the narratives that often surround Trump – his tendency to be clumsy and his meticulousness about how others perceive him.
The footage quickly turned into a symbol for a lot of people, reminding them of other times—like when Donald Trump was at West Point and slipped on the wet ramp in 2020—when folks took little mishaps and made a big deal out of them to question his overall fitness and ability to concentrate.
The Irish Star, the first to break the story about the umbrella situation, said that “Trump made an embarrassing blunder” and “failed to take down the umbrella… trying to pull it through and failing,” which eventually led him to give up and hand it over to his staff members.
This mishap wasn’t the first time Trump had a bit of trouble with something as basic as an accessory. Back in October 2018, he made quite a spectacle of himself when he tried to get off Air Force One with an open umbrella. He just left it lying there on the ground without even closing it. Folks could not shut up about it, and it even became a meme, which highlighted a rather embarrassing moment for the President.
Some people believe these small gaffes tell us a great deal more than that he had a bad day with an umbrella. They view it as an indication that he has difficulty learning from his errors or changing his ways, even when everyone is looking and laughing.
While Trump was going golfing amidst drab weather, the economy of the country was still reeling from a dip brought about by his tariffs. Earlier in the week, he had put his trade war on hold for 90 days, which made the stock market go through a wild ride.
While the average American worried about tariffs this weekend, Trump took a long weekend to meet with his business associates from LIV Golf and played in the Senior Championship, winning his 2nd round matchup.
The cost to taxpayers was a mere $4.2 million.#DemsUnited pic.twitter.com/0zZmi3G6Zy
— DemsUnited Gallery (@DUnitedGraphics) April 6, 2025
People talked about how strange it looked for him to go on a fancy trip at a time like this. One person wrote online, “Another luxury weekend while Americans hold their breath on Wall Street?” The Irish Star newspaper mentioned the oddness of his “carefree golf weekend” happening during a time when the economy was going through so much trouble.
The thing with the umbrella might seem like a small, funny mistake, but it’s part of a larger story. It shows a leader who looks out of touch with what’s going on, often getting into trouble because of his showmanship.
In today’s world, where everything gets viral on the internet, the way things look can be just as important as what actually happens.
