Trump makes 'insane' comment during Medal of Honor ceremony as he struggles to clasp it on veteran's neck
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Viral
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: Ken Cedeno / AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Viral
Donald Trump has raised eyebrows once again after making some unusual remarks during a Medal of Honor ceremony.
As the people of America know all too well, it's not unheard of for the President to go off topic at public events.
For example, a couple of days ago Trump – who recently celebrated his 80th birthday – got distracted by a 'handsome' reporter at a G7 press conference. The POTUS was being asked a questioned by Sky News Arabia reporter Majed AlFarsi in the audience when he interjected to discuss his appearance.
"What a nice looking person," he said to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. "Is he from your country?"
Advert
Trump went on: "He's got such a nice way about him. My people are so mean. Look at him, the handsome guy. You could put him in a movie right now."
Now, Trump has once more let his intrusive thoughts win during a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House.
Marine Corps Maj. James Capers, Marine Corps Col. John W. Ripley posthumously, and Army Maj. Nicholas Dockery we all being given the award yesterday (June 18).
Trump said in his speech: "Only a few have received our highest military distinction, The Congressional Medal of Honor. I wanted to give it to myself, but I was informed that I couldn't do it."
He went on to joke: "And I couldn't find anything where I was actually worthy [for the honor], so here we are."
While it's quite clear the president was only kidding (I think), people haven't been left terribly pleased with his remarks.
“I wanted to give it to myself, but I was informed I couldn’t do it.”
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 18, 2026
President Trump joked about awarding himself the Medal of Honor before presenting the nation’s highest military distinction to three service members during a White House ceremony.
Trump called the recipients… pic.twitter.com/F1GXVIYhC2
"At least now the world knows Trump is insane," one person said on Twitter, as another wrote: "If he could give himself the medal he would... and with no shame whatsoever."
"The words out of his mouth are a disgrace to the service men and women of this nation," raged somebody else.
A fourth penned: "Trump has never served. It would be a perversion for him to give himself the Medal of Honor and would tarnish the sanctity of it."
"Is he joking or actually wanting to award himself the medals?" questioned a different Twitter-user.
When Trump eventually went on to put the medals around the necks of the honorees, he struggled with the clasp when giving the medal to US Army Major Nicholas Dockery in a moment that's since gone viral.
Away from joking that he wanted a Medal of Honor and fumbling the clasp of the medal itself, Trump has successfully signed an initial peace deal with Iran in recent days following weeks of conflict with the country that resulted in the Strait of Hormuz being blocked.
The president said the deal could prevent the US facing an 'economic catastrophe', said BBC News, and proceeded to threatened to 'bomb the hell' out of Iran if the deal falls through.
When speaking at the White House in June, the president told reporters: "You know what I really love? I love the inflation.”
For context, the US’ current inflation rate sits at a hefty 4%, the highest rate since April 2023.
When asked by a reporter at Easter how it isn't a war crime to strike Iran's bridges and power plants, Trump responded: "Because they killed 45,000 people in the last month. They kill protesters. They are animals, and we have to stop them."
Q: How would it not be a war crime to strike Iran's bridges and power plants?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 6, 2026
TRUMP: Because they killed 45,000 in the last month. They kill protesters. They are animals. pic.twitter.com/y3MvHyBLnI
In a June 2026 press conference, Trump said when being questioned on the shaky ceasefire with Iran: “It's a different part of the world, you know. I'd say in that part a ceasefire is when you're shooting in a more moderate manner.”
In a March 2026 press briefing with Japanese prime minster Sanae Takaichi, Trump made a joke about the 1941 attack on the US.
A Japanese journalist asked Trump about why the US didn't inform its allies about its plans to attack Iran, to which he responded by saying that the US 'went in very hard' and 'didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise'.
He then said: “Who knows better about surprise than Japan?”
While this comment drew polite laughter from US officials in the meeting, the room was then plunged into silence at Trump's next remark, in which he said to Sanae: "Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK?"
In early 2025, Trump was asked during an interview with the New York Post if he had plans to kick Prince Harry out of the US amid ongoing questions about his immigration status.
"I don’t want to do that. I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife," he said. "She’s terrible."
Ahead of a 2025 meeting in the Oval Office, the Ukrainian president wore a black, long-sleeved polo shirt featuring the Ukrainian trident - after which he'd vowed not to wear a suit until Russia's invasion of his country would come to an end.
Trump jokily said as he greeted Zelenskyy: "Oh look, you’re all dressed up."
When the US was involved in that dispute over Greenland, as Trump wanted the land to be America’s, he claimed that Denmark didn't have the 'right' to the country.
Well, it's clear Trump didn't realize that Greenland is a self-governing, autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, and has been part of Denmark for 600 years.
During his address to Congress in March 2025, Trump accused the Biden administration of spending $8 million on 'transgender mice' experiments.
PBS later fact-checked this and concluded that this claim was false, with PBS News Hour's White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López saying 'the idea that scientists are making mice transgender is false'.
"These experiments were studying the effects of gender-affirming hormones on asthma and on whether gender-affirming hormones increase breast cancer risk," Barrón-López explained.
During his 2024 election campaign, Trump wildly called for 'one real rough, nasty' and 'violent day' of police retaliation in order to eradicate crime 'immediately' - which many drew comparisons to the thriller film The Purge.
"One rough hour — and I mean real rough — the word will get out and it will end immediately, you know? It will end immediately," Trump said to the crowd in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Another moment during his 2024 election campaign saw Trump take aim at his opponent, former vice president Kamala Harris.
He told his supporters: "We have to tell Kamala Harris that you’ve had enough, that you just can’t take it anymore. We can’t stand you, you’re a s**t vice president. The worst."