(Adnkronos) – Donald Trump did it again. Or at least so claim his critics, who for years have accused him of a certain tendency to “fall asleep on the job.” This time the office was not the Oval Office, but the private box at Madison Square Garden, from which the American president watched Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks – the team he has always supported, being a native New Yorker – and the San Antonio Spurs. After receiving boos from part of the crowd when he appeared on the big screens during the national anthem, some videos showing him apparently dozing off next to James Dolan, owner of the Knicks, went viral on social media.
The controversy is far from new. The hashtag “Commander-in-Sleep,” an ironic nickname coined by Democratic circles to target the president, has been circulating on social media for some time. Reactions were swift: the anti-Trump group Lincoln Project called the evening “the most expensive taxpayer-funded nap in history,” while Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez commented with a terse “wake up.” Other users joked that Trump, after inviting Americans to “watch the game on TV” if they couldn’t afford the expensive Finals tickets, seemed to fall asleep precisely during the match. Many angry comments came from Knicks fans, who had to move their historic ‘watch party’ from outside the Garden to Bryant Park for security reasons, while the apparently dozing president was shown on screen during the game, which was tight until the last possession, then won by the Spurs.
It’s not the first time Trump has been accused of dozing off in public. Already during the 2024 New York criminal trial, several reporters described him with closed eyes and head tilted back for long stretches. Similar scenes have been observed multiple times during his second term, during government meetings, briefings in the Oval Office, and international encounters. Trump and the White House have always rejected the accusations: the president claimed he merely “closed his beautiful blue eyes” to listen better and “absorb everything,” while aides described the images as simple “long blinks” or spoke of fatigue due to the tycoon’s particularly intense work pace.
