What To Know
- CNN’s Erin Burnett questioned whether Donald Trump’s “testy” behavior toward reporters is linked to his apparent lack of sleep.
- Trump posted more than 75 times on Monday night, sharing bizarre images and conspiracy theories.
- CNN’s Daniel Dale highlighted that Trump amplified a fabricated quote falsely attributed to Sen. John Kennedy about Barack Obama.
After Donald Trump snapped at another female reporter on Tuesday (May 12), CNN’s Erin Burnett wondered whether the president’s “testy” behavior stems from his apparent lack of sleep.
On Tuesday’s edition of Erin Burnett OutFront, the news anchor played a clip of Trump calling MS NOW’s White House correspondent, Akayla Gardner, a “dumb person” after she asked him about the rising costs of his White House ballroom.
“That’s the President of the United States,” Burnett said. “And his behavior today came after he spent much of the night seemingly awake. Maybe that‘s why he‘s so testy, posting and reposting on social media.”
As Burnett pointed out, Trump spent Monday night (May 11) and the early hours of Tuesday morning posting more than 75 times. “Do you know anybody who does that?” she asked.
Burnett highlighted some of the president’s most bizarre posts, including a picture of a $100 bill with his own face on it, another photo of his face being etched into Mount Rushmore, and an AI-generated image of former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden swimming in sewage with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in front of the Washington Monument.
“So he posted all of those things in those 70-plus posts,” she concluded.
CNN’s Daniel Dale also called out Trump’s late-night posting spree, writing on X, “It’s hard to explain just how detached from reality President Trump’s conspiracy-theory-filled social media posting spree last night and this morning was.”
It’s hard to explain just how detached from reality President Trump’s conspiracy-theory-filled social media posting spree last night and this morning was. One easy example: The president shared a completely made-up and frankly nonsensical “quote” about former president Obama the… pic.twitter.com/u4Al56JOhJ
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) May 12, 2026
Dale pointed out one particular post the president shared that included a “completely made-up and frankly nonsensical ‘quote’ about former president Obama,” attributed to GOP Sen. John Kennedy.
“The fake quote originated with a “satire” website, basically a fakery factory, that invents stories to be shared by online conservatives,” he explained. “Per the fact-check website Lead Stories, versions of this particular fake quote have been wrongly attributed to everyone from Kash Patel to Madonna.”
Senator Kennedy laterrespondedhimself, telling NOTUS, “Somebody told me there was something floating around on the internet about me accusing President Obama of stealing $120 million or something. I didn’t say that. I don’t know the basis of it.”