President Donald Trump’s attempt to lay out his legislative priorities for 2026 on NewsNation this week devolved into one of the most head‑scratching interviews of his presidency, dominated not by jobs, inflation or immigration — but by water flow, straws and showerheads.
Asked by host Katie Pavlich about what he wants Congress to accomplish this year — in a midterm election year — Trump bypassed pressing voter concerns like the economy and border security and instead launched into a bizarre riff about sinks that don’t work and straws that “don’t have to be paper anymore.”
“Well, one of the things I’d like to do … we passed so many executive orders,” Trump said, then pivoted straight to water: “I mean, like water coming out of a sink. The water wouldn’t come out. They had all sorts of ridiculous restrictions. I took all of that off … Coming out of the showerhead, you’d stand under a shower, there’s no water coming out.”
From there, Trump veered into straws — a topic that has long fascinated him. “They don’t have to be paper anymore. They don’t have to melt in your mouth,” he said, framing his 2026 goals around “common sense” deregulatory moves like undoing low‑flow water rules and overturning paper‑straw mandates.
He estimated that 35 – 40 percent of his executive orders have already been codified by Congress and said he wants the rest “confirmed” this year, but the rambling detour through domestic plumbing and straw policy undercut any coherent policy message.
Behind the scenes, this interview came the same day Trump delivered a 104‑minute press conference on his accomplishments, which included digressions about renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of Trump,” anecdotes about little league baseball and odd asides about insane asylums.
That marathon session drew rare public criticism from former Trump staffers. Stephanie Grisham, who served briefly as his White House press secretary during his first term, called the press conference “bizarre even for him … low‑energy & feels like he’s … mentally slipping.”
Another ex‑Trump official, Sarah Matthews, took aim at Trump’s foreign policy tangents — particularly his controversial Greenland comments — calling the president’s rhetoric “the most mentally ill, deranged thing that Donald Trump has done to date.”
Trump, 79, has vigorously defended his mental acuity, telling reporters recently “I’m sharper than I was 25 years ago” and boasting of “very good genetics” and perfect health. Yet even with a string of soft‑ball questions, Trump floundered, failing to articulate a serious congressional agenda and instead wandering into bizarre policy tangents, underscoring persistent concerns about his focus as a sitting president.
Watch the clip below:
