Donald Trump‘s favorite office accessory popped up in a tone-deaf video that contradicts the foundation of his loyal supporters.
The president promised he would bring jobs and factories back to America during his 2024 reelection campaign.
The pledge is a cornerstone of the “Make America Great Again” movement, while manufacturing facilities, such as the Ford plant in Michigan, have served as backdrops for his jobs and economic updates.
However, on Labor Day, Trump showed the country exactly what he thinks about the workforce, and it is a bleak reality.
The federal holiday celebrates the triumph and economic contributions of American workers, from safer working conditions to pay increases, union protections, and more. President Grover Cleveland signed it into law in 1894.
However, the Trump administration celebrated the occasion with a 38-second video shared on the White House’s social pages.
“This Labor Day, we celebrate the workers and products that are proudly MADE IN AMERICA,” read the caption.
The clips showed the president’s go-to black marker being monogrammed with his golden signature, capped, moved down an assembly line, and placed into a blue box.
A machine completed each step. The final scenes depict what is supposed to be Trump’s hands, sans his perpetual bruises, carrying the apparatus into the Oval Office and signing an executive order.
This Labor Day, we celebrate the workers and products that are proudly MADE IN AMERICA. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/uzAdQvC7x1
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 7, 2026
Social media users criticized the White House for missing the most vital part of the holiday: acknowledging actual workers.
“Built by a robot. You do know how incredibly out of touch this is right?” read a response to the gaffe.
A second X user stated, “There are zero real humans featured and 99% of the video is done with AI. What a tone deaf video to be posted on Labor Day.”
As a result, the video was flagged by the following community note on the Elon Musk app, X: “The video shows a fully automated assembly line producing pens, with no human workers visible. Many observers note it appears AI-generated.”
“He’s mocking and trolling Americans every single day. He hates you,” one individual quipped. Another critic pointed out, “Didn’t you just say we were all lazy and had too many days off?”
Last June, Trump ranted on Truth Social that Americans were not working enough.
He whined, “Too many non-working holidays in America. It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed. The workers don’t want it either! Soon we’ll end up having a holiday for every once working day of the year. It must change if we are going to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
His complaint was a thinly veiled attack on Juneteenth, the federal holiday President Joe Biden signed into law in 2021. The day commemorates June 19, 1865, when enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, were informed of their freedom
Several people also commented that the marker appeared to be a Sharpie, although the brand’s name is not shown.
President Trump says he swapped the White House's thousand-dollar ballpoint pens for cheaper Sharpies when signing bills. pic.twitter.com/Gqe8oNtdcP
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 26, 2026
During a Cabinet meeting in March, Trump praised the custom markers while holding one up for reporters, remarking, “This pen is very inexpensive, but it writes well.”
He even claimed he called the head of Sharpie to object to the standard gray body, asking instead for a sleek black finish emblazoned with his gold signature — though the marker’s parent company later said it had no information about the conversation he described.
Ironically, before the White House shared the Labor Day pen video, Trump heralded the August jobs report. “Great jobs number just announced, breaking all estimates (except mine!) by double and triple,” he posted on Truth Social.
A reported 162,000 jobs were added, up from July’s 23,000 loss.
