Things got a bit awkward during the White House Faith Office luncheon on Monday.
Not only did President Donald Trump curse in front of faith leaders—calling Biden-era indictments against him “bulls--t”—he raged that he he had been investigated more than the gangster Al Capone, bragged he has “always made money,” and incorrectly claimed gas prices are the lowest they have been in 50 years.
Those topics did not appear to be part of Trump’s prepared remarks. As he addressed assembled religious business leaders from the podium, he looked down occasionally at his speech but went off on tangents as he worked his way through the text.
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“I’ve ended the radical left war on faith, and we’re once again protecting religious freedom instead of destroying it, and God is once again welcomed back into our public square,” Trump said, clearly part of his prepared remarks.
Trump, 79, compared himself to Capone moments later. He characterized the notorious gangster, believed to have murdered over 200 people, as “great.”
“I was under investigation more than the late, great, Alphonse Capone,” Trump said. “Think of it. Al Capone would kill people for dinner. If he left the room and he didn’t like him, he’d have him shot, killed, buried under a building someplace, as part of the foundation of a building. They’re all over the place, and I said I had more time under investigation than the legendary Alphonse Capone, or probably anybody else.”
Trump then misremembered that he had been indicted four times in 2023, not five.
“The one thing I did that was very helpful, I was indicted five times. Indicted, that wasn’t a word that was in—my father’s looking down, my mother’s looking down, that my son’s not supposed to be indicted,” he said. “I think I got indicted five times, impeached two times. All bulls--t, right? Terrible stuff.”
The luncheon crowd, comprising 60 CEOs and business leaders who donate to faith-aligned charities, did not appear to mind the president’s meandering, as they clapped and cheered throughout his speech as he rambled.
“Gas prices have reached the lowest level in five decades,” Trump remarked at one point. “Actually, it’s going to be, we’re going to see some really good numbers where, you know, drill, baby drill, drill, baby drill. I’ve got to make sure that people can afford to produce the gas. ...
“But the gas has gotten to the lowest level in decades, and you’re seeing $1.99 $1.98. I saw $1.95 at certain states, not California, because every time it goes down, they add taxes onto it,” Trump rambled. “All they do is they keep adding taxes. Terrible governor, doesn’t know what he’s doing. He may be, he may be a candidate, but if you, if you go by success, you can’t have him be a candidate.”
Fox News reported that the White House luncheon is the “first event of its kind.” The White House Faith Office was created by executive order in February.
Trump grew up in a Reformed Church but rarely attends services as an adult. He has made a habit of name-dropping God since entering politics a decade ago, and he won the presidency in 2016 off the backs of Evangelical voters who later became his MAGA base.
