Published On 7/3/2026
US President Donald Trump appeared in a podcast episode with Osha Vance, the wife of the US Vice President, and the episode was filled with impromptu comments by Trump about former American presidents.
The Second Lady of America has an online talk show dedicated to reading picture books to children, and during the episode that was broadcast today on YouTube, Trump, as usual, went off-script and mocked his predecessors and even mocked himself.
Trump read a book entitled “Presidents Playing,” which includes drawings of American presidents enjoying sports and recreation inside the White House and its gardens.
When Osha Vance asked him if he had time to read for pleasure during his presidency, he replied that he mostly ended up reading newspapers, adding, “I usually read stories written about myself.”
Trump made remarks about former presidents, and made some jokes, while flipping through the pages of the book.
Sarcastic descriptions and presidential jokes
Barack Obama, who has long been the target of Trump’s ridicule, received his share of comments. He appears in the book with an illustration of him playing basketball. Trump doubted that Obama would be a good basketball player, noting that Obama’s favorite sport is golf, adding sarcastically, “But he will not participate in the Masters tournament anytime soon.”
While he described John Kennedy as “the second most handsome president,” he did not reveal who he thought was the most handsome president, leaving that to the viewer’s intelligence. When he reached a page showing a drawing of Bill Clinton running on the running track he created in the White House, Trump said, “I don’t think I will ever do that,” before adding a comment about Clinton, “But I love him very much.”
Trump contemplated the idea of riding a horse after seeing a picture of Abraham Lincoln riding a horse, and said, “That’s great. I’d like to ride a horse too, but he added that falling off horses is not a good thing, proposing an alternative solution to ride an old horse that is very slow and lazy.”
A picture of John Quincy Adams swimming in the Tiber Creek River – which ran through the South Plaza of the White House at the time – sparked a comment from Trump in which he referred to his new project, saying, “I think we are building a beautiful ballroom on top of it.”
Talk about fitness
The physical activities of some presidents prompted Trump to think about his physical structure. When he saw Gerald Ford swimming, he said, “I don’t know if I would look good in a swimsuit. I haven’t worn a swimsuit for a long time.”
As for William Howard Taft, who was known for his huge size, Trump said that he was “the heaviest president we have ever had.” He continued, “I have to be careful because I don’t want to break his record.”
Vague advice for children
In addition to encouraging children to maintain their physical fitness, US President Donald Trump sent a message that seemed somewhat ambiguous, in response to the second lady’s question about the advice he would like to give children regarding the reasons for celebrating Independence Day on the Fourth of July.
Trump said, “We have a great country, but it is now standing on the brink of the abyss. It may go this way or that, and you realize that, but we will make it go in the right direction, and we will make America greater than it has ever been before.”
