September 30, 2025

At Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s military gathering in a room full of top generals, Donald J. Trump put on an embarrassing spectacle, displaying his failing mental health in front of the world. Trump told a 'sir story,' whined about not getting the Nobel Peace Prize, boasted about ending eight wars (It was seven last week. He's been busy!), talked about how everyone loves his signature, whined that military officials didn't applaud him, and, of course, spoke about "beautiful paper."

Behold: Trump actually said this to our most senior military officers from around the world.

"Beautiful paper, the gorgeous paper," he said to a silent audience. "I said, throw a little more gold on it. They deserve it."

"Give me — I want the A paper, not the D paper," he continued. "We used to sign a piece of garbage. I said, This man is going to be a general, right? Yeah."

"I don't want to use this," he said. "I want to use the big, beautiful, firm paper. I want to use the real gold writing when you talk about the position. And they're beautiful. And — but how would you like to have that?"

"Where you — some kid sitting in the back office is having it signed with an auto pen," he added. "I thought about it, and I thought about you people first — admirals, generals."

I'm sure Jake Tapper will be all over this. If any other commander-in-chief mumbled incoherently in front of the military like we witnessed today, calls for the 25th Amendment would be deafening.

Trump to generals: "We have beautiful paper, the gorgeous paper. I said, 'throw a little more gold on it, they deserve it. I want the A paper not the D paper.' We used to sign a piece of garbage ... I want to use the big beautiful firm paper."

Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-09-30T13:44:17.191Z

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