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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBREAKING CRITICAL IRAN WAR UPDATE: Trump tells the heroic tale of ordering Sharpies that he didn't want to say "Sharpie"
So I came here, and they have $1,000 pens. And, you know, you hand pens out, youre signing, and you hand them out. Youre handing them as all these people. Sometimes you have 30, 40 people, and they are $1,000 a piece, Trump complained. Beautiful pen, ballpoint, $1,000. It was gold, silver, gorgeous. But Im handing out to kids that dont even know what they are.
He went on to imitate a child, What is this mommy? and vented that the kids dont know what they are.
The president then declared I love the government like I love myself economically. I want to save money.
So Im saying this is crazy, and it had another problem: They didnt write well, Trump rambled. So I take it, and I signed, and theres no ink, and I got all you people looking, and you say, there must be something wrong with Trump.
The president claimed that rather than using a $1,000 pen that doesnt write, he called Sharpie and told the company he wanted pens, but he didnt want them to say Sharpie as he was signing contracts as president.
He said, Well, I can make it nicer. I said, What can you do? He said, Ill paint it black. I said, Thats nice, Trump recounted his conversation.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-79-launches-unhinged-rant-about-his-5-white-house-sharpie/
2naSalit
(102,904 posts)To hear himself talk.
11 Bravo
(24,313 posts)Johnny2X2X
(24,224 posts)This dude thinks ordering pens is something.
ornotna
(11,498 posts)Was he big and burly with tears in his eyes?
The public needs to know.
Hes so pathetic.
LetMyPeopleVote
(180,023 posts)As a rule, when the president talks about imaginary conversations, his descriptions are vague. Occasionally, he slips up.
Look, I realize this framing is trite, but for all of the obsessive focus on Bidenâs age and mental acuity, he never went around sharing the details of imaginary conversations that he claimed to be having in the here and now.
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-03-30T17:59:37.440Z
Trump, meanwhile, does it all the time.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-shares-a-conversation-with-sharpie-maker-that-apparently-never-occurred
During a Cabinet meeting Thursday that discussed the war in Iran, record-long security lines at many of the nations top airports, rising oil prices and skittish stock markets, the president interjected by holding up a custom-made black and gold Sharpie and offering a long story about how his preferred marker came to be a White House fixture.
See this pen right here? Trump said at the start of a roughly five-minute, on-and-off diatribe on the Sharpie. This pen is an interesting example.
What followed was a lengthy and detailed description of a conversation the president claimed to have had with the company that makes the pens.
Trump: "See, this pen right here. This pen is an interesting example. It's the same thing. So this pen is very inexpensive. But it writes well. I like it. But I can't have the pen the way it was. You know what it is. I don't want to give too much publicity but they do treat me well. Sharpie."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-03-26T15:34:25.401Z
.....The day after the Cabinet meeting, The Washington Post reported, The company that makes the permanent markers said the exchange never happened. Presented with a transcript of Trumps account, a spokesperson for Sharpie maker Newell Brands said it did not occur. When the Post asked the White House to clarify who the president had spoken to and when, it received no response.
Trump already had a Sharpiegate mess in his first term, and the sequel is about as absurd.
But what troubles me about this is the familiarity of the circumstances. As a rule, when the president talks about imaginary conversations, he sticks to vague descriptions that make fact-checking difficult.....
I realize this framing is trite, but for all of the obsessive focus on Joe Bidens age and mental acuity during his term, the Democratic president never went around sharing the details of fictional conversations that he said he was having in the here and now. Trump, meanwhile, does it all the time.
LetMyPeopleVote
(180,023 posts)Ms. Toad
(38,663 posts)https://www.thoughtco.com/why-presidents-use-so-many-pens-3368115
The pen used by Biden: Cost Century II Rollerball. Cost $144.
https://www.dayspringpens.com/products/cross-century-ii-rollerball-pen-black?srsltid=AfmBOopslYKDQQ37CXOqXRhTDa4UbRyVbONV3lWqbWym7WD11o4RFEHk
Nowhere near $1000.