Trump-speak: 9 bizarre things the US President said in the past week

He has imposed humongous tariffs on friend and foe alike, made global markets crash in panic, and left economists scratching their heads in disbelief. But Donald Trump has sauntered right through the ruins of the global trade order as cool as a cucumber with a gentle rebuke: “Don’t be a panican.”

While the US President is known to invent words— sometimes as a typo (e.g. the recent “hank tough”) and sometimes deliberately (e.g. “panican”) — and also gets mercilessly trolled for them, not many have been in the mood to even have a good laugh, with the markets in a tizzy and the threat of recession looming.

Well, if you need a reminder, here are nine of the most bizarre things Trump has said in the past week.

1. ‘(World leaders) are kissing my a** now’

After bombarding the world with outrageous tariffs, Trump on Tuesday (April 8) mocked world leaders wanting to make a trade deal with the US. “These countries are calling us up, kissing my a**,” he sneered.

Trump was addressing a fundraising event for House Republicans when he mocked the world leaders. “Please, please sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything. I’ll do anything, sir,” he said derisively.

Also read: US halts $1 bn in funding for Cornell, $790 mn for Northwestern

2. ‘Don’t be a panican’

As the global markets nosedived like a jet plane out of control, Trump first told his followers on Truth Social to “hank tough”, and even suggested by sharing a video that he was crashing the markets on purpose.

We are not sure how many took his claim seriously but seeing that not many were “hanking tough” as told to, he mildly rebuked them on Monday (April 7), exhorting them not to be a “panican”, even patiently defining his freshly-coined term.

“The United States has a chance to do something that should have been done DECADES AGO. Don’t be Weak! Don’t be Stupid! Don’t be a PANICAN! (A new party based on Weak and Stupid people!). Be Strong, Courageous, and Patient, and GREATNESS will be the result!”

3. ‘I stand for Main Street, not Wall Street’

Possibly realising that not many were up for greatness and way too many were on the verge of joining the new party of Panicans, Trump followed it up with another post on Truth Social saying he was the “President for the workers” who “stands up for Main Street, not Wall Street”.

As the US markets swung wildly, Trump indicated that he was the protecter of the middle class and defender of America, the “trade cheaters” of the world be damned.

Also read: Trump's 104 pc tariff hike on China effective from today amid fears of trade war

“I’m proud to be the President for the workers, not the outsourcers; the President who stands up for Main Street, not Wall Street; who protects the middle class, not the political class; and who defends America, not trade cheaters all over the globe,” he posted on Tuesday (April 8).

4. ‘I know what the hell I’m doing’

If there has been a single backlash against Trump’s wild tariffs, it has been from China, which has matched his hikes percentage for percentage. Currently, the US figure stands at 104 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods, effective from today (April 9), as China refused to back down from its retaliatory duty of 34 per cent on US goods.

China is expected to retaliate soon but Trump remains undaunted. At the National Republican Congressional Committee dinner in Washington on Tuesday, he defiantly declared, “I know what the hell I’m doing,” reassuring Republicans about his trade strategy.

The million-dollar question is, does he?

Anyhow, Trump has further claimed that his administration is preparing to roll out more tariffs, particularly targeting the pharmaceutical sector, put “pressure on the pharma companies to leave China.”

Also read: US stocks drop, Asian markets sink amid uncertainty over Trump’s tariffs

5. ‘It’s such an old-fashioned term, but a beautiful term. Groceries’

Trump has been obsessed with “groceries” of late — not with the “bag with different things in it”, as he defines it, but with the word itself.

During his Rose Garden speech when he dropped his tariff bomb on the world, he said offhandedly, “It’s such an old-fashioned term, but a beautiful term: groceries. It says ‘a bag with different things in it.’”

Before that, he declared at another White House event that “groceries” is “a beautiful word” and during a media interview, “I haven’t used the word ‘groceries.’ It’s like an old-fashioned word, but really it’s not. And people understand it.”

He also said at a White House Cabinet meeting that “groceries” is “an old-fashioned word”, “but it’s a very descriptive word”.

6. ‘Someday people will realise that tariffs...are a very beautiful thing’

Trump has been trying hard to inspire confidence of his countrymen in his tariff and trade policy through different posts on Truth Social. At the same time, he has blamed his predecessors for their “faulty” policies, even calling them, especially Joe Biden, names.

On April 6, he offered the following explanation for his tariffs: “We have massive Financial Deficits with China, the European Union, and many others. The only way this problem can be cured is with TARIFFS, which are now bringing Tens of Billions of Dollars into the U.S.A. They are already in effect, and a beautiful thing to behold. The Surplus with these Countries has grown during the ‘Presidency’ of Sleepy Joe Biden. We are going to reverse it, and reverse it QUICKLY. Some day people will realize that Tariffs, for the United States of America, are a very beautiful thing!”

Also read: Apple ships five iPhone-loaded flights to US to dodge Trump tariff

7. ‘It’s an honour to (impose reciprocal tariffs)’

While warning Beijing on Monday that he would further hike the tariffs if it did not immediately back down — which it hasn’t — Trump insisted that no other US President would do the things he was doing and said it was “an honour” to do so.

“No other president is going to do this, what I am doing. It’s an honour to do. Because we have been destroyed, see what have they done to our system,” Trump said. “We have $36 trillion dollars debt for a reason. This is because people allowed this to happen,” he said.

“I have great respect for China but they cannot do this,” Trump said in the White House. “We are going to have one shot at this... I’ll tell you what, it is an honour to do it.”

8. Russians are ‘bombing (Ukraine) like crazy’

Trump had claimed several times in his pre-election campaign that had he been the US President, the Ukraine war would have never happened.

It’s another matter that more than two months into his presidency, the war has actually not stopped. While his “good friend” Putin has snubbed the deal to end the war, Trump has been left fumbling for words on being asked about the status of the ceasefire.

“I’m not happy about what’s going on” in Ukraine, Trump told a press gathering in the White House on Monday, complaining that the Russians are “bombing like crazy right now”.

“So, we’re meeting with Russia, we’re meeting with Ukraine, and we’re getting sort of close, but I’m not happy with all the bombing that’s going in the last week or so. It’s a horrible thing,” he said.

Also read: Black Monday bloodbath: Global markets crash amid fear of escalation in trade war

9. ‘Oops, there will be no attack by these Houthis!’

On April 5, Trump shared on X a satellite video of what looked like a bomb being dropped on a group of people standing in a circle. According to him, they were Houthi rebels of Yemen.

He captioned the video with the following words, with no further details: “These Houthis gathered for instructions on an attack. Oops, there will be no attack by these Houthis! They will never sink our ships again!”