Donald Trump — Serious or Not Serious?
Author: Greg Valliere
May 5, 2025
A HEAD-SPINNING BARRAGE of pronouncements from Donald Trump has raised an important issue — when is he serious, and when is he not serious?
THE ISSUE OF HIS SERIOUSNESS was on display earlier this spring when Trump declared that he was only being sarcastic when he said he would end the Ukraine war in one day.
AND OVER THIS WEEKEND TRUMP and his aides said that he was just joking with a fake AI photo of him dressed as the Pope. This angered many Catholics just days ahead of the solemn vote to replace Pope Francis.
THESE AND OTHER ODD COMMENTS got us wondering:
WAS TRUMP SERIOUS when he said he wants to re-open the Alcatraz prison?
WAS TRUMP SERIOUS when he offered assurances that the U.S. probably would not invade Canada?
WAS TRUMP SERIOUS WHEN HE REITERATED THAT “we need Greenland very badly?”
WAS TRUMP SERIOUS when he proposed massive new tariffs on the foreign film industry?
IS TRUMP SERIOUS about a huge and expensive military parade later this spring that would coincide with his 79th birthday?
AND MOST OMINOUSLY, was Trump serious yesterday when he said “I don’t know what the Constitution requires me to do.”
THESE AND MANY OTHER STATEMENTS BY TRUMP are made just for headlines and probably shouldn’t be taken seriously; he’s brilliant at generating publicity. But which statements are serious, and which are not?
THAT’S A GENUINE ISSUE, as the markets discovered in April, when leaks from the White House seemed to change tariff policy every day. The next head-spinning issue will be on tax reform — Trump will free-lance daily, and Republicans on Capitol Hill are bracing for confusion.
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