Donald Trump spent the night before the G7 summit doing what increasingly appears to be his favorite presidential duty: firing off frantic social media posts at all hours of the morning.
After staying up past 1 a.m. to watch the UFC event he staged on the White House grounds for his 80th birthday, Trump boarded Air Force One for France, and apparently decided sleep was for losers.
Instead of resting before a major international summit, the president launched into an overnight Truth Social posting spree that looked like a man live-blogging his own insomnia.
The first outburst landed just before 4 a.m., when Trump once again demanded Congress pass his SAVE Act, a controversial proposal that would dramatically reshape American elections by severely restricting mail-in voting and requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration, despite the fact that only U.S. citizens can legally vote in federal elections already.
This time, Trump tried to hold national security legislation hostage to get it.
The president declared he would oppose renewing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act—a surveillance authority relied upon by intelligence agencies—unless lawmakers attached his election bill to it. The problem? The SAVE Act doesn’t have enough support to pass Congress on its own, much less enough support to be stapled onto a FISA renewal.
Totally normal stuff. But that was only the beginning.
Around 6 a.m., after apparently deciding he still wasn’t tired, Trump began promoting a conservative book before immediately pivoting to congratulating himself for the UFC spectacle he hosted at the White House.
Trump declared the event “incredible,” mocked weather forecasters whose predictions didn’t pan out, and proceeded to describe the evening in terms that sounded less like a presidential statement and more like a five-star Yelp review written by the event organizer himself.
According to Trump, the White House had “never looked more beautiful,” the setting was “unsurpassed,” and the event ranked among the greatest days in White House history.
Yes, because when historians think of the most significant moments ever to occur at the White House, their minds naturally drift to cage fights on the South Lawn.
Still awake and still posting, Trump then turned his attention to promoting his Freedom 250 celebrations, which have reportedly struggled to attract performers after many artists learned the events were essentially pro-Trump political rallies wrapped in patriotic branding.
Several acts reportedly bailed.
No problem. Trump simply made himself the star attraction.
Within minutes, he announced that he would headline a July 4 event in Washington featuring military flyovers, airshows, and what he promised would be “the largest fireworks show in history.”
Because nothing says “America’s 250th birthday” quite like a president turning the celebration into another Trump rally.
The posting spree finally ended with one of Trump’s trademark reality-detachment specials.
At 6:38 a.m., the president claimed that Joe Biden’s immigration policies caused car insurance premiums to skyrocket because millions of criminals supposedly entered the country and, according to Trump’s theory, weren’t very good drivers.
