President Donald Trump on Tuesday brought back what used to be a staple of his speeches: people who spontaneously burst into tears in his presence.
But this one had a twist.
While Trump’s tales have typically featured people who cry when they see him, this new anecdote included someone crying on him.
“I just left a great group of people from Iowa, and half of them were crying as they talked to me,” Trump said at an event in Clive, Iowa. “I don’t think they’re crying because I’m doing a bad job. You know, in theory, you cry if you do a bad, they were crying because I’ve done a good job.”
Then, Trump brought in his trademark “sir” part of the story.
“They said, ‘Sir, you’ve brought our country back,’” he recalled. “Crying, crying.”
Next, Trump added his new twist.
“One woman was fantastic,” he said. “She grabbed me, and she put her head right there, and her tears are pouring all over my beautiful suit. I figured, I get it, and I checked it out, and there was a lot of makeup all over. I said, ‘What the hell am I gonna do? Get myself in trouble!’”
And finally, Trump said he offered some advice to the crying woman.
“She was crying, and I said, ‘Don’t cry. Be happy. Be happy,’” he said.
For years, Trump has told stories about supporters weeping when they see him.
“I have steel people that every time they see me, they start to cry,” he told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo in 2024. “They hug me. They said, ‘You saved our industry.’”
The year prior, Trump claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) had burst into tears as he sought an endorsement.
“He was dead, he was leaving the race. He came over and he begged me, begged me for an endorsement,” Trump said at the time. “He said, ‘If you endorse me, I’ll win,’ and there were tears coming down from his eyes.”
Trump has also spun several variations of the tearful tale, but they usually feature “tough guys” who had never cried before.
“I don’t think he cried in his life, and I don’t think he cried when he was a baby,” Trump said in 2019 as he spoke of a man begging him to cut regulations. “He was crying. He said, ‘Sir, you give me back my life and my property.’”
In 2018, it was “a strong, tough guy, and he was crying,” according to Trump.
“He said, ‘Mr. President, thank you for saving America,’” Trump recounted. “I’m telling you, that man, he was tough. I don’t think he cried when he was a baby.”
Trump has also spoken of a 2017 event with farmers and ranchers weeping behind him, but the event was captured on video and did not show any obvious tears.
Trump’s critics responded to the newest story with their eyes rolling rather than tears coming out of them:
