President Donald Trump stopped mid-sentence when he became distracted and began speaking directly to a woman in the audience at a ceremony on Monday.
The president, 79, was speaking to a group of “angel families” in the East Room of the White House when his address went off the rails.
In a matter of seconds, Trump went from speaking about requiring voter IDs to the blizzard slamming New York before stopping mid-sentence to speak to the woman.
“We’re having a massive snowstorm right now, and I heard that he’s asked people to come out and help shovel the snow,” Trump said. “Okay, so you get a shovel, and you start shoveling, right? What the hell. You’re not going to help too much, but you can help—And hello, darling, how are you?”
The president had been looking toward his left as he randomly talked about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s snowstorm response, but when his eyes traveled toward the left side of the room, he became distracted.
When the president suddenly greeted the woman, he pointed at her in the crowd, clearly taking everyone by surprise.
“No right behind you, look,” Trump continued, trying to distinguish who he was speaking to.
“My friend, right? Are you okay? Yes, you,” the president said to her, but she did not appear to know at first what he was referring to with the sudden switch in topics.
“Are you okay? Are you okay? Good,” Trump said. “Are your eyes okay?”
The president was speaking in front of a crowd where it was hard to hear her response, but the president appeared to realize that everyone was confused by the random exchange mid-address, telling the room that he gave the woman money for surgery.
“A lot of money to get her eyes fixed,” Trump explained. “That doctor ripped me off, but that’s okay.”
The woman was identified as Patty Morin, who had visited the White House to advocate before, after her daughter Rachel was raped and murdered by a fugitive from El Salvador in 2023.
The president then had an impromptu one-on-one conversation with Morin as the audience looked on.
“Well, you get them done. It’s a pretty—It’s an operation, but it’s 100 percent, you know, it’s great," Trump said.
The president went on to tell the entire room that the woman was almost blind due to cataracts, but she would have 20/20 vision with the operation.
Trump went back to addressing Morin directly. He told her he saw her on television wearing glasses on Sunday. He then went on to say her family would be different right now if not for the election.
The president then abruptly turned away and went back to speaking about the election and immigration, but he never finished his thought on the snowstorm slamming New York or Mamdani.
It was one of several times during the president’s low-energy appearance on Monday, where he brought up a series of random topics, including repeating false statements about the 2020 election and insisting he actually had “silent support.”
At another point, he declared the U.S. had the greatest economy it’s ever had and “most activity we’ve ever had.”
Toward the end of the event, the president stood up and returned to the stage, where he could be seen thanking people from afar as he applauded, then turned his back and walked out of the room in a bizarre exit from what was a somber event.
