![Donald Trump Staring at the Eclipse Donald Trump Staring at Eclipse meme.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/mobile/000/023/731/tryumpsunlol.jpg)
Donald Trump Staring at the Eclipse
Part of a series on 2017 Solar Eclipse. [View Related Entries]
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About
Donald Trump Staring at the Eclipse or Donald Trump Looking at the Sun refers to images of United States President Donald Trump squinting his eyes while looking at the 2017 solar eclipse without eye protection on. Online, many mocked the President for failing to heed warnings about the dangers of staring directly at the sun. In April 2024, during the 2024 solar eclipse event, the image briefly regained popularity online as it was used in numerous memes.
Origin
On August 21st, 2017, Twitter user @leyawn[1] tweeted a pair of fake New York Times headlines reporting that Trump had "suffered permanent eye damage" after staring at the solar eclipse (shown below). Within 24 hours, the tweet received upwards of 23,500 likes and 7,800 retweets.
!["I'd say theres about a 50% chance this happens later" leon @leyawn id say theres about a 50% chance this happens later NYTIMES 16m ago "It was the most tremendous eclipse," said President Trump, stumbling around the White House. "Just tremendous. I meant to go blind." Slide for more NYTIMES 17m ago President Trump has suffered permanent eye damage from looking directly at the solar eclipse, despite repeated warnings from advisors, said White House officials today. Slide for more](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/287/522/c2e.jpg)
Later that day, Trump was filmed observing a solar eclipse with his wife Melania and son Barron.[3] After looking at the sun while wearing protective glasses, Trump removed them and squinted while briefly looking at the sky (shown below).
Spread
Shortly after the First Family's appearance, Twitter user @axios[4] tweeted a screen-captured image of Trump looking upwards at the eclipse without glasses, along with the message "And he goes for it" (shown below, left). Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported Ted Mann posted a photo of Trump looking upwards at the sky along with a tweet claiming a person in the crowd yelled "Don't look" at the same moment (shown below, right).[2]
!["And he goes for it" by @Axois Axios @axios And he goes for it White House 2:43 PM ET ECLIPSE OF THE CENTURY TRUMP WATCHES ECLIPSE FR Voice of Chad Myers | ams Meteorol](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/287/525/549.jpg)
![Someone shouted "Don't Look" Ted Mann @TMannWSJ As he did this, someone in a crowd of aides below shouted "Don't look."](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/287/528/b09.jpg)
Also on August 21, 2017, comedian Paul F. Tompkins posted a short video clip of Trump looking at the sun along with the message "Hey, our President may have irreparably damaged his retinas?" (shown below).
Hey, our President may have irreparably damaged his retinas? #eclipse pic.twitter.com/aZdfOGVuUi
— Paul F. Tompkins (@PFTompkins) August 21, 2017
On August 22nd, the New York Daily News printed a newspaper cover featuring Trump squinting at the sky with the headline "Not Too Bright!"
![Daily News Cover NYDailyNews.com SOLAR ECLIPSE FINAL AUGUST 22, 2017 DAILY NEWS NEW YORK'S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER NOT TOO BRIGHT Trump ignores fake news warning, stares at eclipse SEE NYDN.COM](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/287/524/9e0.jpg)
April 2024 Resurgence
In early April 2024, before the April 8th total solar eclipse in North America, the photograph of Donald Trump looking at the eclipse regained popularity on social media. On April 3rd, Redditor Gavin-Oldsom posted the photograph to the /r/pics[5] subreddit, where it gained over 68,000 upvotes in six days.
On April 8th, 2024, American politician Hillary Clinton posted the photograph with the caption "Reminder:". The post (shown below, left) gained over 17,000 reposts and quotes, and 71,000 likes on X[6] / Twitter in one day, and was followed by users quoting the post with mentions of Clinton's loss to Trump in the 2016 United States Presidential election. For example, an April 8th post by X[7] user @lukeisamazing received over 3,000 reposts and 39,000 likes in one day (shown below, right).
![Reminder from Hillary Clinton Hillary Clinton @Hillary Clinton Reminder: Hillary Clinton @Hillary Clinton Mar 24, 2020 Please do not take medical advice from a man who looked directly at a solar eclipse. 10:28 AM Apr 8, 2024 17.5M Views](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/791/026/c9e.jpg)
![you’re right, ma’am, this guy looks like a f------ moron. you’d have to be one of the worst candidates of all-time to lose to the thicc husband & father @lukeisamazing you're right, ma'am, this guy looks like a f------ moron. you'd have to be one of the worst candidates of all-time to lose to someone this dumb Hillary Clinton @Hillary Clinton • 22h Reminder: x.com/Hillary Clinton... . 1:11 PM Apr 8, 2024 974.5K Views](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/791/030/607.jpg)
Also on April 8th, the photograph saw viral spread on social media, being used in various formats (examples[8][9] shown below) and compared against the photograph of the United States President Joe Biden looking at the eclipse in protective eyewear.
![sun shame vs sun pride doomer @uncledoomer sun shame vs sun pride • • 3:40 PM Apr 8, 2024 633.2K Views](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/791/034/a08.jpg)
![looking at my code that broke prod terminally onλine ɛngineer BADMAN @tekbog looking at my code that broke prod 4:08 PM - Apr 8, 2024 11.7K Views](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/791/036/982.jpg)
Various Examples
![Can't go blind if the sun is fake Can't goblind if the sun is fake](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/287/531/3a3.jpg)
![President and his family watch as nuclear bombs rain down The president and his family watch as nuclear bombs rain down (May 17, 2019](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/287/533/ec3.jpg)
![All media is fake news TRUMP: all media is fake news MEDIA: wear eclipse glasses or you'll go blind TRUMP: White H 2:43 PMET ECLIPSE OF THE CENTURY TRUMP WATCHES ECLIPSE FR Voice of Chad Myers | ams Meteorol](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/287/532/c2a.jpg)
![Bee Movie](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/287/534/cf5.jpg)
![Deus Ex](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/287/529/ec6.jpg)
!["I am growing stronger" am growing stronger](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/287/535/c2d.jpg)
Search Interest
External References
[3] UpRoxx – President Trump Stared Directly Into The Solar Eclipse
[5] Reddit – Donald Trump staring into the eclipse, 2017.
[6] X – @HillaryClinton
[7] X – @lukeisamazing
[8] X – @uncledoomer
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Top Comments
Brad
Aug 22, 2017 at 12:09PM EDT
L. Ron Hoyabembe
Aug 22, 2017 at 12:10PM EDT