Co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski tackled the topic at the top of Tuesday's show.
The Morning Joe team tore into Donald Trump over viral claims the president fell asleep during an Oval Office event about reproductive health on Monday.
Co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski tackled the topic at the top of Tuesday's show. The White House had just scolded a reporter on social media for sharing a photograph of Trump with his eyes closed at the event hours before.
'He was- he was working so hard throughout the day,' Scarborough began, after producers played a clip of Trump failing to recognize the coach of the championship-winning Indiana college football team, Curt Cignetti, later on Monday.
'I'm sure he was tired by then. When you work hard,' the MS NOW star joked.
Brzezinski wryly agreed, noting how 'Trump appeared to be resting his eyes multiple times' at the earlier event, footage of which rapidly gained traction on social media.
The two touched on the White House’s rapid response team response to the momentum - an X reply to Reuters national security correspondent Idrees Ali's post with a photo that showed Trump's eyes completely closed.
'He was blinking, you absolute moron,' the message read, despite Ali's caption not arguing otherwise.
The Morning Joe crew promptly produced a screenshot of the post - to which Scarborough said, 'That’s a very long blink!' He went on to remind his audience of the torment Trump put his predecessor, Joe Biden, through for perceived 'sleepiness.'
MS NOW co-stars Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski addressed online speculation that Donald Trump fell asleep during an event at the Oval Office on Monday at the top of Tuesday's 'Morning Joe'
Trump closed his eyes for several seconds while hosting an event on maternal health and flanked by officials
'That’s the longest blink I’ve ever seen,' co-host Jonathan Lemire quipped as the clip of Trump appearing to nod off at the event continued to play.
'Still blinking!' Scarborough said as Trump's eyes remained closed.
'Not a lot of rights and access to health care to talk about, so maybe he fell asleep?' Brzezinski said.
'You know, the thing is, everybody’s entitled to sleep. And, you know, I like sleeping, you know, and sometimes you close your eyes, you’re in, you know, you get tired,' Scarborough said.
He reminded viewers about Trump's old nickname for his progressive predecessor, 'Sleepy Joe'.
'Remember, Joe Biden goes to a memorial service in Hawaii, and he closes his eyes for about three seconds, and a lot of people thought it was because he was sad at the tragedy there, and Trump’s people just went absolutely crazy?'
‘"Sleepy Joe, Sleepy Joe.’”
'Do they think we’re stupid?' Scarborough eventually asked.
The White House scolded a journalist for simply sharing a photo of Trump with his eyes closed during the Monday event
'Joe Biden goes to a memorial service in Hawaii, and he closes his eyes for about three seconds... and Trump’s people just went absolutely crazy?' Scarborough said. Biden is seen at a 2023 memorial for the Maui wildfires
The video of Trump at the event showed his eyes closed for some 17 straight seconds.
The president was previously accused of falling asleep during a cabinet meeting in December, which the White House roundly denied.
A White House spokesperson referred to White House Rapid Response team's initial post when asked about the more recent instance Tuesday.
The president has been known to pen late-night Truth Social posts and has said he runs on only three or four hours of sleep each night.
'Sometimes Eric and I will get a call from him at 6am from him, and he’s clearly already read a few newspapers and watched some news by that point,' Lara Trump told the Katie Miller Podcast last year.
Biden, now 83, told Democratic governors last summer that he needed more sleep following his disastrous debate performance in June 2024. He dropped out of the election shortly thereafter.