Copyright independent
California Governor Gavin Newsom dubbed President Donald Trump “The Nodfather” after photos captured him dozing off in the Oval Office. The California Democrat’s press office account on X shared six photos of Trump nodding off at various occasions above the words “The Nodfather” in a golden font resembling the movie poster for “The Godfather.” “Saw this. had to share,” the social media post read. The 79-year-old president struggled to keep his eyes open Friday during a televised event at the White House, where several administration officials announced lower prices for weight loss drugs for Medicare and Medicaid recipients. “People can sleep again, because they can breathe when they go to bed,” Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said at the White House Friday as the president unironically battled to stay awake. The president slouched in his chair and closed his eyes, footage from the event shows. The White House denied that the president took a nap in the middle of the event. “The President was not sleeping; in fact, he spoke throughout and took many questions from the press during this announcement which represents a historic reduction in prices for Americans on two drugs that help Americans struggling with diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and other conditions,” a White House spokesperson told the Washington Post in a statement. Earlier this week, Newsom labeled Trump “Dozy Don,” resurfacing a nickname he gave the president last month when he appeared to fall asleep during an Antifa roundtable. Newsom’s nicknames are a nod to Trump’s snoozy sobriquet for his predecessor: “Sleepy Joe” Biden. Neera Tanden, who served as the director of the United States Domestic Policy Council during the Biden administration, pointed out the comparison, writing on X: “I'm sorry but the national media would have had multiple strokes if Joe Biden was sleeping/passed out in his chair in the Oval Office.” The most recent incident is far from the only time the president has been seen resting his eyes. He appeared to doze off during an energy and innovation event in July, while attending the U.S. Open in September, as well as multiple times during his criminal “hush money” trial last year. Some administration officials have previously alluded to the president’s elusive sleep schedule. “None of us can keep up with him; we always joke. I don’t know how he does it. I mean, none of us know when he sleeps. He’s working all the time, and it’s just constant for him,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in September. That same month, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. remarked on Trump’s relentlessness to reach a drug-pricing deal with Pfizer — which included late-night calls. “President Trump, I would say, harangued and harassed us to make this happen. I was getting calls at 11:30, 12:00 at night. ‘Oh, are you asleep?’” Kennedy recalled. “And at one point, Dr. Oz told me, ‘I can't take the president's calls anymore’…I say I don't get anxiety; this gave me anxiety.”
