Donald Trump was provided a large-font printout of talking points to stick to during a cabinet meeting, and yet he still managed to say the wrong words.
Media was on hand for a recent gathering at the White House, where Trump was flanked by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss possible next moves in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
As the self-proclaimed “President of Peace,” the president has been adamant in professing America’s victory in destabilizing the Iranian military and government.
Trump’s account of why taking actions against Iran was necessary. His remarks may have been a narrative that neither of his top officials was expecting him to share, or at least not in the way he did.
According to Trump, improvising his keynotes “is so much easier” because following a script is too tall an ask. “It takes real talent to do the other,” he said during a speech on March 26.
He kept repeating, “Brian’s been on an excursion, right?” at the beginning of the cabinet meeting, which was simply another moment of Trump taking hold of the reins.
Bragging about ending threats in the U.S., he began, “I said, ‘Well, now we have to take an excursion to Iran, and we have to stop this maniac,’ who’s no longer with us.”
The president has previously been vexed by the word “excursion,” which means a leisurely trip, discussing the hostile military actions that began in late February.
However, the word Trump is trying to reference is “incursion,” a correction that a member of his administration should have shared with him — though it’s plausible he was made aware of his mistake and insisted on leaning on his own understanding.
“He just gets off on being completely inappropriate and controversial. What a total loser,” said one person. Two other people asked, “Could he mean incursion, not excursion? The war with Iran is hardly a day trip,” and “Who’s going tell him what ‘excursion’ means? What an idiot.”
🚨 OMG. President Trump is so hilarious, he just said this about fallen Ayatollah Khamenei 😭
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 26, 2026
"We have to stop this maniac. Who's no longer with us. The supreme leader, wasn't so SUPREME, no longer with us. It's very sad!" pic.twitter.com/VBEbx6PeNA
The contraction of Trump’s words was also obvious: “He’s already called it a war multiple times. Calling it an excursion now seems like he’s just insulting our intelligence.”
Rubio’s straight face broke as he immediately began rubbing an eyebrow and fiddling with his nose after the utterance of “excursion.” “Even Pete and Rubio look uncomfortable,” noted a fourth viewer.
Hegseth appeared humored when Trump quipped, “The supreme leader wasn’t so supreme,” during the cabinet meeting. A viewer commented, “Kegsbreath chuckling like he just won a video game and this doesn’t involve human lives.”
On the contrary, Hegseth also looked caught off guard by the “maniac” remark, quickly glancing downwards, then back at Trump with a side-eye as the president referenced the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Regarding the Iranian official, Trump continued to share that he was “no longer with us; it’s very sad, but we have to stop him from blowing up the world, blowing up the Middle East, and blowing up our country, and we did that.”
Doubts about his cognitive fitness date back to 2025 and have intensified after reports that aides brief him on the war using two-minute highlight reels. His frequent verbal slip-ups and factual mix-ups, whether real or exaggerated, have only fueled that perception.
One such instance is the widespread joke that Trump once claimed, “’Hundreds of governors are calling me.’” His documented ability to defy reality made it easy for many to believe he was unaware that each state gets one governor, totaling 50.
Trump’s off-script banter about the war also included his surprise that the stock market and oil prices were not more affected by the war. It’s comments like those that make his teleprompter blunders and his derailing prepared speeches to share nonsensical anecdotes a hallmark of his deranged leadership.
“I had to do a little stopover; I call it an excursion. had to do a little stopover in Iran, and we had to knock the hell out of them. Because our country would not have been safe; the world wouldn’t have been safe. I’ve done a great favor for the world. The world has not been — it has not been reciprocal,” Trump continued.
