While the rest of the world can’t peel their eyes away as Donald Trump’s historic criminal trial gets under way in New York, the former president himself appears to be far less enthralled by the proceedings.
Jury selection got under way on Monday in the first-ever criminal trial of a sitting or former president, as he faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a bid to cover up hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
But, according to some courtroom reporters, Mr Trump appeared to struggle to keep his eyes open – and at one point may have even fallen asleep.
“Trump appears to be sleeping. His head keeps dropping down and his mouth goes slack,” New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman reported.
The observation quickly inspired a new nickname for the 77-year-old former president: “Sleepy Don.”
Soon, the moniker spread like wildfire on social media.
“My theory: Trump’s legal team sedated him,” Mother Jones DC bureau chief David Corn wrote on X.
“Looks, he’s old. The judge is keeping Sleepy Don from his nap time,” Meidas Touch editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski posted.
The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump Super PAC, wrote that Mr Trump had worn himself out with his post-trial Truth Social rants.
“#SleepyDon was up late rage-posting on Truth Social,” the account posted.
The former president’s apparent courtroom nap eventually began trending on X, with users flocking to the hashtag #DonSnorleone, a reference to the mafia kingpin Don Corleone from the Godfather series. Others chose another pun for Mr Trump: The Nodfather.
Several other social media users joined in the joke.
“I prefer Presidents who don’t fall asleep before the lunch break in their hush money paid to a porn star election interference trial,” one user mocked.
“If Sleepy Don is too low energy to stay awake during the first day of his criminal trial, does he even have the stamina to be President?” another wrote.
“‘Sleepy Joe’ is [a] projection, like everything else,” the account Republican Voters Against Trump posted.
Others made jokes about Trump ally Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow, with one person tweeting: “Where is the My Pillow guy when you need him?”
“A special consultant just showed up at the Trump trial,” another posted, along with a picture of Mr Lindell.
The nickname comes after Mr Trump has proudly branded his 2024 rival, 81-year-old Joe Biden, “Sleepy Joe” ahead of the 2024 election. Now, the former president has a weary lethargic label of his own.
Mr Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records over so-called hush money payments made before the 2016 election to pay off adult film star Stormy Daniels in exchange for silence over an alleged affair.
She claims the affair happened in 2006 — just one year after Mr Trump married his now-wife Melania.
Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Speaking on CNN, Ms Haberman also remarked that dozing off in the middle of a trial is not necessarily out of character for Mr Trump.
“There have been other moments in other trials, like the E Jean Carroll trial…where he appeared very still and appeared as if he might be sleeping,” she said.
“His jaw kept falling on his chest and his mouth kept going slack,” she continued.
While people do sometimes fall asleep during court proceedings, “it’s notable given the intensity” of the trial, she said.
The Biden-Harris campaign retweeted the clip of Haberman talking on CNN.
The Trump campaign later vehemently denied rumours of the former president’s brief courtroom nap, saying in a statement: “This is 100% Fake News coming from ‘journalists’ who weren’t even in the court room.”
