Donald Trump's Exhausted Court Appearance Has Everyone Saying The Same Thing

The day that Donald Trump and his lawyers have tried to delay has finally arrived — the start of his criminal trial over allegedly falsifying records about payments to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. (If you need to catch up, here's everything to know about Trump's hush money case as the trial begins.) Since it's a criminal trial, Trump is required to be there, barring special permission to leave, and apparently, the former president may not have gotten a good night's sleep beforehand. During the pre-trial motions and before the jury selection in Trump's historic criminal case, Trump was so tired that he, "appeared to nod off a few times, his mouth going slack and his head drooping onto his chest," per The New York Times.

There aren't any television cameras allowed in the courtroom, so we have to go with what we hear from those who are in the room as it happens. Stewart Bishop, reporter for Law360, was live posting from the proceedings and seemed to corroborate what Haberman said; at one point, he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, "It very much looks like Trump is dozing off right now."

What's perhaps most notable for many on social media is the fact that Trump has in the past referred to President Joe Biden as "Sleepy Joe" — #sleepydon started trending on X in the wake of the reporting that the former president couldn't keep his eyes open at times during his trial.

Maggie Haberman, who wrote The New York Times report on Donald Trump seemingly falling asleep, was later asked on CNN about her characterization of the situation. In a clip that's been shared on X, Haberman confirmed the defendant's snoozy state, and she noted an example Donald's lawyer passing him a note that he ostensibly didn't notice. Commenters chimed in on this assessment of Donald's courtroom condition. One person posted, "I hope to God that if he face plants on the table falling asleep a camera catches it." Another said, "He was up all night in a nervous panic now he's sleepy." 

Donald's niece and frequent critic Mary Trump commented on her uncle's exhaustion. She posted a link from CNN on X where Trump spoke to reporters before heading into the courtroom and wrote, "Is he tired of winning? Because he looks tired." A few hours later, Mary posted: "He can't stay awake. Think he's having fun yet?" Memes have started popping up, and many seem to be enjoying poking fun at the situation. One person joked, "Well, after all, he never did claim to be 'woke'. Lol."

Others saw it as a more serious issue. One person posted, "shouldn't the fact that Donald Trump can't manage to string together like 15 minutes straight in court without falling asleep be a red flag for someone who wants to be (and WAS) president of the United States?!!?"

A number of people theorized that Donald Trump may have seemed sleepy because his legal team gave him some kind of medication to stay calm during the trial: "Trump's lawyers ordered sedatives to avoid him lashing out in court and having his ass hauled off to jail," wrote one critic. Trump does face potential jail time in the case if he proves to be a disruption; he was notified of this by Judge Juan Merchan before jury selection. Trump has lost his cool in the courtroom before, including during the E. Jean Carroll case.

Even as Trump appeared in court, his Truth Social page was blowing up with posts about the trial, including a number of "ReTruthed" clips from Fox News with commentary about the trial being politicized. No word from him yet on whether or why he was dozing in court, though some have theorized what he might say in explanation — one person posted, "Watch him say he was just resting his eyes ... on purpose."

Along with this case, the 77-year-old former president is facing the possibility of three additional criminal trials in his future, he's running a presidential campaign, and he's still appealing two multi-million dollar civil verdicts against him. So it would make sense if he's tired.