Trump

Trump leaves social media confused as he randomly admires White House ballroom ‘view’ mid-meeting

Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

In the same White House meeting with oil company execs on Friday which saw US president Donald Trump read out a memo from secretary of state Marco Rubio, the Republican also decided to hit pause on discussing business to rise up out of his seat and take a look outside at work on his controversial ballroom, baffling social media users.

It came as the 79-year-old boasted about the $400 million project, which has seen the East Wing of the historic presidential building knocked down to build the new event space.

He said: "In fact, if you look, come to think of it… Well, I gotta look at this myself.”

Rising out of his seat and turning his back to the press to look out of the window behind him, Trump could be heard saying: “What a view. This is the door to the ballroom.”

He eventually returned to his seat, but not before acknowledging that it was an “unusual time to look” at the work, but he “figured we might as well do it”.

The bizarre moment has since confused X/Twitter users, with many once again bringing up the continued speculation over his health:

Another account put it plainly: “The oldest man ever elected president gets up and wanders away mid-press conference to stare wistfully out the window”:

Journalist Medhi Hasan branded it “a scene from an assisted living facility”:

And Republican representative Eric Swalwell, a Trump critic, tweeted: “We need to talk about grandpa”:

Trump went on to add: “The ballroom will seat many, and it will also take care of the inauguration, with bulletproof glass, drone-proof ceilings, everything else that, unfortunately, today, you need.”

This echoes comments made just last month, when he said “we are gonna do the inauguration in that building”, even though – of course – Trump won’t oversee the next inauguration as he is currently serving his second and final presidential term allowed under the US Constitution.

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