President Trump did what he does best over the weekend: needle the media, land a punchline — and then sit back as the chattering class scrambles to keep up.
During a phone interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Trump casually dropped a tongue-in-cheek aside that will no doubt have headlines writing themselves by sunrise. The topic? Energy, global tensions, and America’s dominance in oil. The detour? Classic Trump.
Asked by host Maria Bartiromo about reports of massive oil tankers heading toward U.S. waters, Trump pivoted with a grin you could practically hear through the phone.
“Well, I can tell you it used to be called the Gulf of Mexico, that’s what I can tell you,” he said.
Then came the signature flourish.
“Now, it’s called the Gulf of America, because of me. One of my little things that I did,” he added, calling it a “great honor.”
That’s when Trump, never one to resist a comedic setup, took it a step further.
“I used to say, ‘Why is it the Gulf of Mexico when we have 93% of the frontage?” he said. “It’s now the Gulf of America, which I’m very honored by. I must tell you, I was thinking about calling it the ‘Gulf of Trump’ and I decided not to do it.”
Cue the laugh.
“It was going to be called the Gulf of Trump, and then I said, ‘You know, that’s not going to play too well,’” he continued. “I think maybe that one wouldn’t have worked out…You know, that’s not going to play too well.”
Just in case anyone missed the joke, Trump spelled it out.
“You know I’m kidding,” he told Bartiromo, who responded by calling him “facetious.”
But Trump, ever the media realist, already knows how this movie ends.
“The Fake News will have a headline tomorrow,” he predicted.
Beyond the punchlines, the substance of Trump’s message was unmistakable: America’s energy sector is roaring back. In a Truth Social post, the president pointed to what he described as a surge of global demand for U.S. oil.
“Massive numbers of completely empty oil tankers, some of the largest anywhere in the World, are heading, right now, to the United States to load up with the best and ‘sweetest’ oil ([and] gas!) anywhere in the World,” he wrote.
“We have more oil than the next two largest oil economies combined – and higher quality. We are waiting for you. Quick turnaround!”
At a Saudi investor forum in Miami last month, he took another swipe — this time at geopolitical choke points.
“They have to open up the Strait of Trump — I mean Hormuz,” he joked.
“Excuse me, I’m so sorry. Such a terrible mistake. The Fake News will say, ‘He accidentally said.’ No, there’s no accidents with me, not too many.”
