U.S. President Donald Trump exits Marine One to board Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey, U.S., September 7, 2026. REUTERS/Eric Lee
Video footage of President Donald Trump showed the 80-year-old president in an irate rant at Marine One pilots on Monday, punctuating his words with a pointed finger that was all caught on camera as he landed at the White House after a weekend at his Bedminster, New Jersey, country club. According to The Mirror, a lip-reading expert thinks they know what Trump was yelling.
The agitated president delivered a talking-to with the flight team. While it was difficult to catch the first part of what he was yelling, lip reader Nicola Hickling told The Mirror US that Trump's mouth was not visible enough during the first 10 seconds of the outburst to figure out what he was saying.
At about the 12-second mark in the video, however, Trump turns to his right, and his lips could be seen enough by Hickling to make out what was being shouted.
"That’s enough for me today," the lip reader claims Trump shouted.
"As he then turns to leave, he appears to add: 'We’re done,'" Nicola added.
Trump then turns, grabs the handrails to the mini staircase, and steps out. The two marines saluting him were ignored, which isn't a customary response.
Former President Barack Obama once sent conservative media into a frenzy when he used his right hand to button his jacket and used his left hand, which was holding a cup of coffee, to salute the Marines.
“Wait[,] did President Obama just salute the Marines with a LATTE in his hand?!” the National Republican Congressional Committee tweeted at the time.
Former President George W. Bush once struggled to salute while holding his Scottish terrier, Barney.
After the Obama incident, the conservative Daily Caller cited a U.S. Navy manual stating that saluting, in general, is “the most important of all military courtesies."
“The salute formally recognizes the officer as a military superior, and returning the salute expresses the officer’s thanks for the junior’s support,” the manual reads.
It goes on to recommend one not salute when one is “carrying articles with both hands or being otherwise so occupied as to make saluting impractical."
Still, Bush and Obama made the gesture.
In his first term, Trump made news for saluting a communist North Korean general who had reached out to shake his hand.
"Trump dramatically fails to salute the waiting Marines, but it's the emotional sandcastle that builds to that moment of apparent inattention that is interesting. He walks away from the helicopter looking moody and preoccupied. His shoulders are down, and although he thinks to pull his jacket together, it doesn't close or appear able to fasten," body language expert Judi James told The Mirror US. She called the president "moody" during the incident.
"The conversation with presumably the pilot shows non-verbal signs that could be translated as irritation or anger, although without Trump's facial expression being visible, it would be hard to get the whole story from balancing his cluster signals. When a 'conversation' is as animated and a point made as repetitively as this, you would expect to see conciliatory signals like a grin or a final friendly wave to balance the hand gestures, but there's no apparent sign of any smile beneath the cap as Trump turns here," Judi explained.
"His gestures appear to imply a discussion about the landing as he 'hits' his flat hand downward several times in mid-air," she said.
"He seems to point to the pilot first to personalize the message before that hand comes down two or three times in a quick, staccato movement. At one point, he seems about to turn slightly before going back to make the point again with the same flattened hand gesture, the sharpness of which has probably led to the speculation that this was an angry, then a preoccupied mood," she added.
