Donald & Melania Trump both stared directly at the eclipse without glasses

Donald Trump watches the solar eclipse from the balcony of the White House with his family

I’m actually a little bit surprised that Donald Trump and the senior staff at the White House actually made a point of watching the eclipse on Monday. Eclipse-watching seems very science-y for this crowd, as they are almost exclusively suspicious of all things science-related. Frankly, eclipse-watching seems like the kind of fun, cool, nerdy thing that the Obamas would have done, which is reason enough for Donald Trump to declare the eclipse to be “overrated” and “probably Kenyan.” He didn’t do that. He stood on the Truman Balcony with Melania, Barron, Ivanka and some department heads (including Jeff Sessons!) to watch the eclipse on Monday afternoon.

Washington was not in the direct path of totality (neither was Virginia), but we got to see about 80-90% of the eclipse, and it did get pretty dark for about an hour. The Trumps got their official NASA glasses so they wouldn’t go blind. Still, this happened:

Embed from Getty Images

The Wall Street Journal’s Ted Mann noted that as soon as Bigly looked up at the eclipse without the NASA-provided glasses, “someone in a crowd of aides below shouted ‘Don’t look.’” Hilariously, Melania did it too:

There’s video too – I love how Barron was over it literally within a matter of seconds.

And finally, here’s a photo of Jeff Sessions about to swoon. It was a special Eclipse Swoon, y’all.

President Trump watches the solar eclipse with his family

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Twitter and Getty.

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74 Responses to “Donald & Melania Trump both stared directly at the eclipse without glasses”

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  1. Clare says:

    I loved when Melania came out in her fashion sunglasses and had to swap them for the eclipse safe ones…and then back to the fashion ones…then back to the eclipse safe ones. Like she couldn’t handle being seen in the uncool ones for a moment longer than necessary.

    Cool > eyesight.

    Morons.

    • KiddVicious says:

      I held the eclipse glasses over my sunglasses. She can only hope to be as cool as I am. /jk

    • Melly says:

      Omg. Alex Aferiat (the guy who posted the pic with Melania looking at the sun) was one of my good friends in high school!! We were on the debate team together!

    • Nancy says:

      He had one thing to do to not f*ck up. Don’t look at the Sun. He couldn’t resist, nor could she. Very sad!

      • Tulsi 202I0 says:

        Someone probably told him not to look at the sun without the glassess therefore he was compelled to do the opposite because ‘No one tells me what to do.’ Ugh.

    • AnneC says:

      One of obama’s aides posted how the Obama’s would have turned this into a huge event with lots of kids and teachers and scientists explaining the eclipse and taking over the White House lawn. Turned it into a fun learning experience. Instead dummy came out looked at the sun, brought a few old tired white guy’s in administration and then back to his favorite thing-watching Fox News 24/7.

      • Seraphina says:

        Yes! Exactly. The Obamas would have and we get a good idea of what Trump thinks of education and science.

  2. milla says:

    I laghed so hard at those pics. Freakin fools. That was me being nice.

    • Esmom says:

      The photos were unreal, so ridiculous. They somehow manage to make everything look insincere and contrived. You know Bigly couldn’t care less about the eclipse, especially as his administration is filled with people who are either anti science or pro junk science. It’s infuriating the SCIENCE has become a partisan issue.

    • Olenna says:

      Here’s me being nice: Fucking idiots.

    • Tiffany :) says:

      It just really epitomizes who Trump is: If he is told not to do something, he is compelled to do it.

      He’s just a spoiled brat who shouldn’t have any kind of serious responsibility. He has no respect for those that know more than he does.

  3. darkladi says:

    Dear Sun,

    You had one job. ONE 😡

    • Grandjen says:

      IKR??!! Lol

    • IlsaLund says:

      Maybe even the sun wasn’t hot enough to do that devil in.

    • Alix says:

      Failing sun. Eclipsed by tiny moon. Sad!

    • Lindy79 says:

      I’m sure his supporters will be like:

      “SEEEEEEEEE!! EVEN THE SUN CANT HURT HIM!!!! TRUMP IS ALL POWERFUL!
      Obama’s head would have exploded…emails…bengazi…the sun is fake news!!!”

      • Pedro45 says:

        NO RUSSIAN COLLUSION!!1 DNC COLLUDED WITH UKRAINE!

      • Beth says:

        And even if his supporters didn’t look at the sun, or wore the glasses, they’ll still have blind obsession and pride of their hero, Trump

      • AnnaKist says:

        ^^^ Love these comments! I was watching the news breakfast show on our national broadcaster this morning, when they covered this story. They encourage emails etc. from viewers. I roared laughing when they read this out: “…and Melania said to her husband, ‘Barack wouldn’t have worn glasses.’ ”

        He’s ugh a liar and full of himself that he’ll probably try to say this was his doing. What a bloody gronk.

    • PrincessMe says:

      🤣🤣😂😂

  4. pru says:

    What a cold family. They are so impersonal with each other.

    • B n A fn says:

      I thought I was the only one noticing how the family is standoffish with each other. I never see Ivanka and Melina steak to or interact with each other in any way. I have seen two photo of 45 interacting with his youngest son. That’s a family I would to be a fly on the wall observing at thanksgiving dinner.

      Btw, the secret service are complaining that they have maxed out their budget for this family already. They say that they have spent more on this family traveling expenses this year already than they spent on BO family for the entire eight years in office. They were saying that each visit to Mara lags costs 3 million dollar and they have been going to Florida almost every weekend. I remember when 45 was crying 😭 about how BO was costing the tax payers too much for his vacations. My oh my, the hypocrites are silent when they see themselves in the mirror.

      • Wren says:

        Oh. Good. So instead of the presidential salary, which isn’t really all that much considering the job description, we have to pay for this idiot’s endless vacations and weekend get aways. Hurray. Such a great trade off. *eye roll*

        I never understood people begrudging the president vacation time. Like, do you know how stressful that job is?? Of course it costs money for the president to travel somewhere, it’s not like they can just load the family in the van and head off to the woods to go camping for a week or something. Obama’s vacations were always reasonable and, IMO, well deserved. What has 45 done to even need a day off?

      • swak says:

        @wren, he is still getting a salary. He is donated it to the Park Service ($78,000) and the Education Dept ($100,000 – a drop in the bucket for the budget)

    • Nancy says:

      Right, @pru. The wife never thought she’d be in the position she’s in and can barely manage to hide her disdain. He ruined her life goal of a professional society woman who didn’t have to interact with her husband once the deal was cemented. The kid always looks lost and confused and void of any emotion. The only female who gets close and has always been on his lap or knee or every thought is his prized possession who may soon be dethroned ivanky. And then there’s the forgotten, unwanted, unmentioned daughter Tiffani. Last time I saw her was at the convention. The Adams family with their heads dipped in orange/yellow paint.

  5. Megan says:

    Why is Ivanka dressed like a character from Charlie Brown?

    • Pedro45 says:

      @Megan
      It’s from her new Peanuts by Ivanka™ line of products. Not made in the USA (shh). It’s a scientific fact that the desperately poor children who produce these destined-for-landfills fast fashion atrocities are slightly less miserable when they make clothes based on cartoon characters.

      • Lisa says:

        I wonder if Charles Schulz’s estate is collecting some royalties…we know that Ivanka would never take advantage of anyone. (rolling eyes)

      • MacScore says:

        ^^^ @Pedro45, this is _brilliant_. Thank you.

    • burnsie says:

      Ivanka’s dress is short too. But her face looks like she’s got a fresh round of fillers

  6. IlsaLund says:

    Guess since this was the big science event of the year, they were obligated to have a photo op showing their participation. Why else would you have so many other people there except for the photo opportunity. Someone probably had to explain to that ignorant anti-science ass hole what an eclipse was.

    • Nicole says:

      Agreed. Except they just wiped the rest of the climate change info from the WH page so there’s that.
      I found this funny because precious Princess Ivanka did a whole video about wearing the glasses

    • swak says:

      This was a total photo op to show what kind of normal Joe Schmoe he is. I’m surprised he didn’t want to go to a totality location because, you know, he has to watch the “bigliest” eclipse.

      • Christin says:

        If he had a property in the totality path, he’d have likely done it so taxpayers could pad his business profits.

  7. Jerusha says:

    Stupid is as stupid does.

  8. Lolo86lf says:

    Did Jeff Sessions say a prayer to the solar eclipse? He probably thinks the eclipse is a sign of the second coming.

  9. Shambles says:

    Lol @ “probably Kenyan” and the fact that Jeff sessions is the elfiest racist elf to ever elf.

    I forgot myself and looked at it without protection for half a second yesterday, but I seem to be okay. I was in the path of full totality, and it was absolutely wild. Breathtaking.

  10. minx says:

    They all looked ridiculous.

  11. Lucy2 says:

    Every day I continue to be amazed at his stupidity.

  12. RBC says:

    My granddaughter is five and she knew not to look at the eclipse without proper eye wear

  13. grabbyhands says:

    At this point this sh*t just writes itself, doesn’t it?? I wish I’d had money riding on them doing this.

    As ever, Twitter was on their A game – https://www.buzzfeed.com/bradesposito/black-hole-sun?utm_term=.it2RJ45EM#.woQdgAp0Y

  14. Sullivan says:

    That pic of Sessions is hysterical.

    • Esmom says:

      And definitely not adorable. The comments to that tweet were priceless but of course people were leaping to his defense saying of course the “libtards” only have vile things to say about Sessions.

    • OhDear says:

      My favorite Twitter caption for that photo was “It’s so dark. Can we keep it from voting?”

  15. Humbug says:

    Thanks Moon and Sun for (doing what Trump couldn’t can’t and won’t) bringing America together for a moment. You guys are the new Pepsi.

  16. magnoliarose says:

    Bo Jeffrey clasping his hands in ecstasy is the same way he looks when he can deny minorities some civil rights. Oh, Good Golly lets go oppressin’ some votes y’all.

  17. Beth says:

    I didn’t get to see the eclipse in Florida yesterday, but on the news,they’ve been warning for weeks, that your eyes would be permanently damaged without the glasses. Maybe they didn’t say it on FOX News, so Trump didn’t hear the warning

  18. Larelyn says:

    I have a son about Barron’ s age, and I feel compelled to throw this out there… previous attempts to guess Barron’s height on older posts put him at near 6 feet (183cm). This clip? Could not be much more than 5’6″ (168cm). He’s definitely lanky, but not nearly as tall as others have speculated earlier.

  19. Jerusha says:

    Did everyone miss being schooled by ivanka on what an eclipse was? I did, too. Then twitter schooled her. #sometimestwitterisglorious
    http://www.someecards.com/news/politics/ivanka-trump-solar-eclipse-glasses/amp

  20. Patricia says:

    I would drag Trump for basically anything. He’s a hateful moron who does humiliating and ridiculous things on an hourly basis.
    But I don’t think he really stared at the eclipse. It seems like he glanced up at it, which is basically what I did too. I looked up, let my eyes sweep across it, and looked away. If I wanted to spend any time viewing it I used eclipse glasses.

    I think it’s funny how people are acting like a one second glance would burn your eyes out! If you stood there and stared then yeah, you’re screwing yourself. But you can look at the sun for a hot second, no harm done.

    • swak says:

      To me it’s not whether it was a stare or a glance. Knowing full well he would be photographed, he should lead by example. Wear the glasses at all times. I would say the same about a teacher who had his/her students out watching the eclipse – glasses on at all times when looking at the eclipse.

  21. lightpurple says:

    Princess Nagini tried for days to make the eclipse all about her to distract from daddy being a Nazi but then he had to ruin it by not wearing his glasses and stealing attention for that.

    I feel sorry for Barron. Nobody seems to care about that kid.

  22. Alexandria says:

    I think it’s cos Melania is used to looking at the sun directly to blind herself against looking at DT; doesn’t she have a permanent squint?

  23. CharlieBouquet says:

    I have read this site for years and only started commenting recently. You guys are hilariously funny people, I giggle snort over the comments.
    On topic, that pic of Sessions is gold. Those elfin clasped hands, aw shucksist. And it is weird how little contact the family has. Although truth be told I wouldn’t want to cuddle any of them. Charlie Brown cosplay, tremendous lol

    • Giddy says:

      I noticed that many people had to hold the eclipse glasses on, but not Sessions. Those ears of his finally fulfilled their destiny!

  24. Ash says:

    I’m here with everyone to say he is truly terrible, but one thing I have to say, why is he constantly so AWKWARD? In everything he does? I watched the live newscast yesterday and saw this moment. He’s so strange? Looking up, without glasses, then reaching for the glasses, posing weird with them like “don’t you worry look at my glassses!” It’s bizarre. Like in every situation he can’t just act I don’t know, normal? Yes he’s a giant a**, but it’s like he’s so strange in his own skin. It’s so odd to me. He is the most unrelatable person I’ve ever seen. I’m not the only person that sees this no?

    • PunkyMomma says:

      No, you’re observations are spot on. Cheeto doesn’t really want to be running a country. He likes the idea of power, but he’d rather be in his cheesy brass tower, eating KFC, followed by a big slice of chocolate pie covered in scoops of vanilla ice cream, while he watches reruns of The Apprentice.

  25. robyn says:

    To Trump, he IS the sun/son and everyone should be in awe of him. That’s why the extreme religious Christian right love him. Besides, Trump knows he can do/say anything stupid and get away with it without any cost to him personally. We shall see.

  26. Molly says:

    It bums me out to think what kind of cool science-y event Obama OR Hilary would have thrown with school kids about this. (STEM studies are cool!) I know this White House doesn’t believe in science (eye roll), but missed opportunities like this are one of the many, MANY reasons why it sucks.

  27. Coop says:

    Hate Donald obviously but I think that Barron is simply adorable. I want to hug him.

  28. KiddVicious says:

    Looks like Nagini is stretching her neck/head up to the sun, as snakes are wont to do.

  29. B n A fn says:

    Why was he sounding like English was his second language last night. Another reading from a TelePrompTer words that someone else wrote and they are saying he was having a good 😊 Night. No one knows what his plans for Afghanistan are but they are saying he has a good idea. I thought when he was running in the primaries and the general election he was giving BO hell for staying in Afghanistan. The conman strikes again, flip flop much.

  30. isabelle says:

    Barron had more common sense than them to not look at it intentionally. Barron is over everything lol.

  31. A says:

    He reminds me of those boys in high school. You know the ones. The ones that are none too bright, that crack dumb jokes in the hallways, the ones that put remote controllers in the microwave just to see what happens afterward. The ones that set the toilet paper (in the women’s washroom) on fire on the last day of school. *Those* boys. The ones who put the (plastic) graduated cylinder on the hot plate during chemistry class “because melting plastic is fun yo,” Yeah. Those are the kinds of boys who might look up at the sun during an eclipse (or on a regular day even). That is, if they actually know what an eclipse is, and don’t just think that the sky going dark in the middle of the day is a sign of the pending apocalypse or something.

  32. why? says:

    The King of Lies and Fake News, his 2 older sons and oldest daughter, son-in-law, GOP, WH press reporters who faithfully keep going back to the WH no matter how horribly the King of Lies and Fake News treats them, and those people in the press who praises the King of Lies and Fake News as “presidential” every time he reads the speeches prepared by Stephen Miller from the teleprompter are destroying this country. When is enough going to be enough? I can’t believe that the press fell for his Afghanistan speech, even after he tweeted in 2012 that war is a method of improving approval ratings. That speech had no details , and yet there were people doing interviews talking about how The King of Lies and Fake News did a good thing. It’s a never ending circle. The press praise the King of Lies and Fake News as presidential for something as simple as reading from a teleprompter that he didn’t even write and then he does something stupid.

    I stopped watching after he said that he studied Afghanistan. It was more entertaining reading people’s tweets about the speech.

  33. why? says:

    What’s going on with the Trump Russian investigation in the Senate and House? They have redirected it, the GOP in the Senate and House have decided to focus on the dossier instead of The King of Lies and Fake News and his relationship with the Russians and the Democrats in the House and Senate aren’t doing anything to stop them. About 2 months ago, Devin Nunes sent 2 WH aides to London without consulting anyone else in the HIC to find and question Mr Steele about the dossier. And the Democrats did nothing to about what Devin Nunes did. The press reported on this for a day and since then haven’t mentioned it. Mueller needs to question Devin Nunes because The King of Lies and Fake News has been using him to obstruct justice.

  34. why? says:

    Do you notice how the WH is planting reporters that will foster the “many sides, many sides” thing? There are 3-4 reporters who go out of their way to make it look like the counter protesters are harassing the Trump supporters. A reporter just said went on tv and said that the counter-protesters were screaming horrible things and taunting the Trump supporter. Notice how he didn’t have a tape or video of this happening?

  35. why? says:

    Someone in the WH is leaking information about Mitch M now. A “source” told NYT that The King of Lies and Fake News and Mitch M had a fight(they were cursing at one another) over the phone and that Mcconnell is doubting the The King of Lies and Fake News presidency. This is so disappointing. In private the GOP know that The King of Lies and Fake News is a disaster, but in public they fall right in line and pursue his agenda knowing that it’s hurting us. The bots are also trolling the polls, making McConnell’s approval rating lower than The King of Lies and Fake News. Our election was hacked and it’s amazing how the press goes on pretending that it’s not still happening.

    Pence is The King of Lies and Fake News puppet. He also needs to be forced to resign. It’s sick how he continues to support the King of Lies and Fake News comments about Charlottesville. He looks weak.

    It’s being speculated that the collision may have been due to someone hacking into the system. I’m not surprised. Our election was hacked and plans are being made for the hack of our next election. Why is the press surprised that this might be happening to the ships?

    It’s also being reported that A is planning on funding NK. A doesn’t make decisions without Putin. So Russia signed the sanctions against NK, only to go behind the US back and supply NK with money to continue their projects against us. The King of Lies and Fake News and Tillerson keep bragging about how NK backed off, but it would be interesting if the press could find out if The King of Lies and Fake News called NK and begged them to stop saying that they were going to bomb Guam because it’s making him look bad. The press never asks the important questions.

    I also wish the press would look into The King of Lies and Fake News fake followers, creating fake supporters as marketing tools, hiring people to cheer doing his speeches, and how many of the people attending his rallies are either paid to be there or work for the Trumps. He did not win the election, it’s why he is always in campaign mode and verbally attacking Hillary and Obama. But it’s not like he didn’t warn us. He was always adamant that the election was rigged, he just didn’t say that it was rigged in his favor. You know that he is going to pay people to attend his rally and protest against the counter-protesters after the 40,000 to 100 ratio of counter-protesters to WS in Boston.

    This war with Afghanistan isn’t about terrorist, it’s about The King of Lies and Fake News trying to get their oil by any means necessary. One of the leaks stated that he asked what was taking so long to get the oil and he wasn’t concerned about fighting the terrorist. Just the oil.

    The King of Lies and Fake News talked about unity, yet he continues to create hatred and division. Why isn’t the press calling out the hypocrisy in his Muslim Ban, Affirmative Action lawsuit, Transgender ban, Iegal immigration ban, refugee ban, removal of the bathroom bill, all the policies created by Sessions, Chris Kobach’s Voter Suppression Commission, and his 3 speeches in which he blamed counter-protesters?

  36. why? says:

    WaPo is reporting that the King of Lies and Fake News told over 1000 lies since his inauguration, lies 5 times a day, and takes credit for people’s work. Of course he lies, he knows that the GOP would never hold him accountable. He calls the press fake news and then they reward him by continuing to show for the press releases or does exclusive interviews with him. I wish the press would stop saying that people elected The King of Lies and Fake News. It has been demonstrated many times that the majority of his followers are fake. He didn’t win because people voted for him, he won because he had help from a 3rd party. The one lie that he didn’t tell was the one about the election being rigged.