President Donald Trump appeared to fall asleep during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, prompting a Fox News pundit to draw an unlikely comparison between the commander-in-chief and Thomas Edison.
Trump, 79, had been up late on Monday night on a wild Truth Social spree, posting more than 150 messages in a matter of hours. The Washington Post estimated his eyes were closed for at least six minutes of the gathering, notably when Secretary of State Marco Rubio was discussing the war in Ukraine.
When he was awake and alert, the president complained about media interest in his health, launched into a tirade about Minneapolisâs Somali immigrant community, accepted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noemâs praise for âkeeping the hurricanes away,â and veered from defending the militaryâs actions in the Caribbean to championing his own taste in interior decor at the White House.
Speaking afterwards to Laura Ingraham on Foxâs The Ingraham Angle Tuesday evening, the networkâs senior medical analyst, Dr Marc Siegel, was asked about media coverage of Trump resting his eyes and dismissed the matter, accusing the press of hypocrisy in its coverage of Trumpâs predecessor Joe Biden.
âThis is a disgrace because we donât need to see President Trump passing cognitive tests, as you just said he passes one every single day. Every single moment, going in and out of press conferences. I have never seen anything like it, actually,â Dr Siegel said in praise of Trump.
Ingraham joined in the defensive push, declaring that she, too, sometimes closes her eyes when people talk to her.
âWe all know that he doesnât sleep, you know, Iâm not a big sleeper either. So, you know, on occasion, I close my eyes if someone is talking for too long, I admit it. But, big deal. I mean, the results speak for themselves,â she said.
âWhat President Trump does on a daily basis, if you sleep three hours or four hours a night, youâre probably going to close your eyes, whether you are 79 or 49. I donât think that matters.â
âThomas Edison believed in the 10-minute nap, by the way,â Dr Siegel interjected. âWhat would they say? We wouldnât have electricity, right?â
Edison actually invented the incandescent lightbulb, not electricity. He advocated a 10-minute power nap to capture the creative ideas stimulated during the hypnagogic state, the transitional period between wakefulness and profound drowsiness.
He is known to have taken one or two naps per day but never championed falling asleep in the middle of meetings.
The Independent has reached out to the Thomas Edison Center in Menlo Park, New Jersey, for comment.
Trump was brutally mocked as âDozy Donâ by California Gov. Gavin Newsom in October after he appeared to drift off at an event discussing the threat his administration said is posed by Antifa activists, in revenge for the presidentâs regular jibes against âSleepy Joeâ throughout his presidency.
Trump previously appeared to drift off during his criminal trial in Manhattan in May 2024 when the strain of fighting four indictments while campaigning for the White House seemed to get the better of him.
Like Ingraham, Attorney General Pam Bondi has also previously marvelled at the presidentâs apparent lack of need for sleep, discussing the subject during an appearance on The Katie Miller Podcast earlier this year.
âNone of us can keep up with him; we always joke,â she said. âI donât know how he does it. I mean, none of us know when he sleeps. Heâs working all the time, and itâs just constant for him.
âThere arenât enough hours in the day for any of us,â she added.
Trumpâs personal physician said in 2018, during his first term, that he slept only four to five hours a night, well short of the seven to nine hours recommended for men of his age.
