In yet another press conference that’s raising more eyebrows than approval ratings, President Donald Trump on Tuesday appeared to suffer a mental lapse as he forgot the name of one of the top Democratic leaders in Congress—just hours after meeting with him face to face.
While rolling out a new initiative aimed at lowering drug prices, Trump spoke optimistically about the program’s potential to ease tensions in ongoing budget negotiations between Republicans and Democrats. But in the middle of his remarks, he seemed to blank on the name of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), a central figure in those very discussions.
“[The initiative to reduce drug prices] has a big impact, even on the discussion that we’ll have with Chuck Schumer, who was here yesterday along with… uh… the… a very… nice gentleman who I didn’t really know, you know who I’m talking about,” Trump told reporters in Washington.
“The nice gentleman.” That’s how Trump referred to Jeffries—a man he met with less than 24 hours earlier, alongside Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), and Senate Minority Leader John Thune (R-SD), in a high-stakes effort to avoid a government shutdown. The meeting, by most accounts, went nowhere, and lawmakers are now bracing for a shutdown by Tuesday midnight.
Trump then launched into a rambling aside, wrongly insisting he won the 2020 election and claiming credit for the $35 insulin price cap—a measure that was actually pushed through by President Biden over strong Republican resistance.
The lapse would be eyebrow-raising under any circumstances. But for someone who routinely mocks President Joe Biden’s mental acuity and pitches himself as the “stable genius” alternative, forgetting the name of the House Minority Leader at a live presser is more than just a footnote—it’s a flashing red light.
It’s also not happening in a vacuum.
Just hours before the press conference, Trump had stirred a fresh wave of backlash by posting a deepfake video on social media. The video showed a digitally altered Hakeem Jeffries, wearing a sombrero and a handlebar mustache, dancing to the “Mexican Hat Dance.” Next to him was a voice-cloned Chuck Schumer, spouting off insults about the Democratic Party. The clip leaned hard into racial stereotypes and AI-generated mockery—because nothing says “serious leadership” like fake videos and cartoonish racism.
Jeffries’ response was swift and pointed, posting a real photo of Trump alongside the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein with the caption “This is real.” A not-so-subtle reminder that while Trump busies himself with GenAI memes, some things—like who he kept company with—aren’t up for debate.
Whether Trump’s forgetfulness was an honest mistake, a sign of age, or just another unscripted Trumpism, the moment was jarring. Because forgetting Hakeem Jeffries’ name after a major bipartisan meeting? That’s not just a slip—it’s a problem.
Watch Trump’s full Q&A at the White House below:
