Doodling, drowsiness and a conspicuous misspelling highlight Trump's
last Cabinet meeting of 2025
[December 03, 2025]
By WILL WEISSERT and MICHELLE L. PRICE
WASHINGTON (AP) — With Tuesday's White House Cabinet meeting chugging
past the two-hour mark, President Donald Trump 's eyes fluttered and
closed. His budget director busied himself doodling a fluffy cloud.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was lucky enough to speak early, but the
title on his nameplate was misspelled.
The sleepy, and occasionally slipshod, gathering nonetheless ended with
a flurry of news. Trump declared that he didn't want Somalis in the U.S.
and Hegseth cited the “ fog of war ” in defending a follow-up strike on
an alleged drug-carrying boat in the Caribbean Sea in September.
The president started things off by noting that it was the last time his
Cabinet would gather until 2026. And, though marathon sessions with his
top advisers lavishing praise have become a Trump trademark since he
returned to the White House, this latest installment felt at times like
a holiday break was needed.
Trump offered lengthy opening comments largely rehashing his key
previous policy announcements from recent months. He also repeated old
grievances, going back to his falsehoods about having won the 2020
election.
‘Go quickly’
The president then gave each Cabinet member a chance to speak,
declaring, “We're gonna go quickly.” That did little to stop most
Cabinet members from offering long presentations.
Hegseth went first and praised the Trump administration's move to rename
his agency the Department of War — something that can't be officially
done without an act of Congress. But the nameplate in front of Hegseth
labeled him the “ssecretary of war,” including a mistaken double “S”
that quickly became the source of searing online ridicule.
After that, as each official took turns speaking, a TV camera trained on
Trump showed him struggling to stay alert. The president sat back in his
chair with his eyes occasionally drooping and sometimes shutting
completely.
Trump's apparent sleepiness followed his criticism of a recent New York
Times story examining his schedule and stamina at age 79. Trump again
slammed the Times story early in Tuesday's meeting and even slipped into
the third person to assure all involved that “Trump is sharp.”
Another indication that things were dragging came from budget director
Russell Vought, who was spotted sketching a bucolic scene on White House
letterhead.
Vought drew mountains framed by pine trees topped by the kind of
friendly-seeming clouds that public television legend Bob Ross preferred
to crowd his serene landscape paintings with. The budget chief also
sketched an arrow underneath his mountain. Where it was supposed to be
pointing was not clear.
Clashing affordability messaging
Just as Trump's admonishments to keep things tight were flouted, some of
the Cabinet members also defied the president in their presentations
when it came to the issue of affordability.
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Russ Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget,
attends the Cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday, Dec. 2,
2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Trump made a point in his opening remarks to call concerns that
Democrats have raised about rising costs a “con job." That didn't
stop many of his administration's top voices from earnestly
detailing how they were indeed seeking to reduce prices nationwide.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins talked about economic pressures
on farmers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called affordability a
“crisis," and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner
said that hundreds of thousands of Americans becoming first-time
homebuyers was an example of how the administration was making
strides to achieve greater affordability.
The final speaker was Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke for
several minutes and acknowledged: “I know I’m last, so I wanted to
be fast. But there’s a lot to cover."
All told, Tuesday's gathering lasted more than two hours. That fell
short of Trump's Cabinet meeting record: an August marathon that
stretched to a whopping three hours and 17 minutes.
Still, even the president acknowledged that the latest meeting was
going long. “We're spending a lot of time in here," he said.
Trump wrapped things by taking questions from reporters, but only
after jokingly asking, “After that, do you WANT to ask any
questions?” He also pointed at a journalist holding a boom mic to
capture sound from the Cabinet meeting and playfully offered, “How
strong are you?”
“You've been holding that for two hours,” the president continued,
drawing laughs from Cabinet members. “There are very few people who
could do that. I'm very proud of you.”
A newsy Q&A
Reporters' questions shook off the doldrums.
Hegseth said he did not see that there were survivors in the water
when the second strike on the boat off Venezuela was ordered and
launched in early September. He said “the thing was on fire” and
cited the “fog of war” in defending what occurred. He also said he
“didn’t stick around” for the remainder of the Sept. 2 mission
following the initial strike.
In response to a later question, Trump declared he didn't want
Somali immigrants in the U.S., adding that residents of the
war-ravaged eastern African country should stay there and try to fix
their homeland. He also accused Somalis of being too reliant on U.S.
aid programs while offering little to the nation in return.
That drew applause from his Cabinet, though the questions ended
abruptly with journalists soon hustled out of the room. Trump
punctuated the conclusion by slapping his hand twice on the table,
pushing his chair back, standing up and thumping Hegseth on the
shoulder.
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