Trump speaks at Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota

cultureJul 1, 20261276,438

Former President Donald Trump spoke at the opening dedication of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota, delivering remarks that included the line, "We ripped it away from the federal government. They don't know it's missing. They still haven't figured out what the hell happened." Attendees and reports noted the ceremony drew theatrical pageantry, a motorcade escorted by people in Rough Riders-style dress and coverage of his arrival on a high-profile trip to western North Dakota. Media and commentators recorded moments they called stumbling or awkward during the speech, and critics pointed to tension between honoring Roosevelt's conservation legacy and Trump's record on public lands. Some coverage and posts highlighted Trump joking that he had asked his two sons about receiving an honor Roosevelt got but that his sons concluded he "hadn't done anything worthy of it." The event also reopened local debates about Roosevelt's racist rhetoric and how the new library should handle that history, including Indigenous voices weighing in on the project. The library dedication is expected to catalyze further discussion about how Theodore Roosevelt's legacy will be presented and about federal versus private roles in conservation projects.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse

@whitehouse.senate.gov

Corrupt lounge lizard Trump flying on his gilded Qatari jet to honor trust-busting outdoorsman Teddy Roosevelt pins the irony meter to the peg.

11115h ago

Rusty Ring41

As a TR scholar, I can assure you that Roosevelt would punch Trump in the face the first chance he got, regardless of venue or audience. And Trump would not get up.

Four Legs Good27

I feel like Teddy would have beat him to death with a moose antler for what he’s doing to the parks system.

Huntress of Daemons 🏹18

Senator Whitehouse, this poetry deserves a Pulitzer

Tom Shafer13

And yet, Donald is oblivious to it. Bonus points: Before departure, Donald said the US couldn't build a plane like this {checks notes} Boeing 747.

Dave Urban12

Let's see Dementia J Trump bust a trust. We've seen him cozy up to oligarchs and collect his golden trophies and crypto in order to receive monopoly power. Teddy talked soft and carried a big stick. Trump is just a limp dick.

Patricia Donnellan, MPH 🇺🇦📎7

TR famously followed his father's advice to "make his body" embracing intense physical activity throughout his life as a means to deal with medical infirmities and crushing grief. TR would consider our President a pathetic weakling of poor moral character.

Mueller, She Wrote

@muellershewrote.com

Just FYI, there's an interactive AI thing where you can talk to Teddy Roosevelt. That's what he's talking about.

10665h ago

🐸🖕🐸 Heartless Creatures116

Yeah, but does he know that?

namecrisis.bsky.social84

What’s the probability he thinks he was talking to the real Teddy Roosevelt? I feel strongly that it’s s greater than zero.

JosABanks41

There’s a non-zero chance that he thinks he talked to Teddy tho

TheSnarkTank33

The actual teddy would have clouted him on the chops.

Middlerage29

He's still a demented moron. 👍

Andrew M_Founder 🇬🇷 🇺🇸28

I'm not convinced he knows that.

Aaron Rupar

@atrupar.com

Trump pays tribute to Teddy Roosevelt with some double jerk dancing

9715h ago

Rick Havoc87

Teddy would have found him abhorrent.

Middlerage83

There it is! 🤣 bsky.app/profile/midd...

Nancy Levine Stearns76

Teddy Roosevelt’s family asked Trump to honor TR’s legacy of conservation of public lands. Trump ignored them and opened Boundary Waters to mining. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/c...

Jennifer Lee 🪁62

Teddy Rosevelt would kick his ass.

Gerald Glenn Saenz25

"He dances like he's in a prison shower."

MaryM23

It what world is this even remotely appropriate?

Quoting this

Maudi639

What in F Troop hell is this?👇Yeah, I’m showing my age. 👵🏻

GJRboston5

he looks like he's jerkin off two giraffes

PHL SportsNut3

I never saw the similarity to Teddy before, but now I see it, I can see tRump on a horse in a foreign land at war leading a cavalry unit up a hill to take it from the native army! lol!

Leland Yacht Club 🦩⛵️🦋3

The guys in the background then broke into the French Mistake 🎶Throw out your hands Stick out your tush Hands on your hips Give 'em a push You'll be surprised You're doing the French Mistake🎶

NatalieNM3

🙄Ugh. And a little Village People. Teddy is turning in his grave… 🪦

Regina Schrambling 3

Worst Brokeback Mountain musical ever

Just Bob 512

Trump with more of his revisionist history. ⬇️Buffalo Soldiers and African American infantry played a major role in the Rough Riders' success.

Jeff Galvin2

So the douche canoe convention was in town?

Outspoken™️

@out5p0ken.bsky.social

The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is designed to be interactive, but damn, Trump thinks Teddy is alive.

2666h ago

jimpittsburgh25

Teddy should have told him to resign.

Aislinn25

TR would have hated Piggy

Franken-Pattern22

That really alarmed me, no kidding.

Mr Blifil20

Every minute a new weird low.

Pat Vasquez19

Good grief. I’m guessing this is how he talks to himself in front of a mirror. Re-home him already, get him out of our house.

hokusai 🌊🌊🌊11

frontotemporal dementia on FULL display and not a single f*&king word about it from right wing media biden stumbles over 1 word...and they go apesh*t in NO world is TRUMP fit to lead ANYONE or ANYTHING

Quoting this

Harry Turtledove 41

You could fool Trump with the "I got your nose!" trick 100 times out of 100, and toddlers quit falling for it by the time they turn 3.

Candidus 🌻11

Is he talking about this? bsky.app/profile/out5...

Chet Scoville8

We all realize (don’t we?) that when It happens, there will quickly be an interactive hologram of Trump which his fans will also believe to be alive

Gail Helt5

Trump doesn’t seem to know this is an avatar….

Michelle5

Or more accurately he had a chat with an AI Teddy Roosevelt and long since lost his ability to tell if things are real.

Andrew M_Founder 🇬🇷 🇺🇸4

I'm convinced Trump believes he's speaking to a real human.

Love, Laughter, Wisdom3

looking very good and steady

Franken-Pattern3

Not exactly. Brace yourself as this is rather alarming.

Tinsley’s Gossip Girl Cameo2

with all due respect (which is extraordinarily minimal if not completely nonexistent) how is he not dead yet

Barbara Warman2

Come on Jake Tapper. Let's talk about Joe Biden.

Rex Huppke

@rexhuppke.bsky.social

Is Teddy Roosevelt on the stage with you right now, sir?

3206h ago

Sara Herrin7

Frederick Douglass also joined the conversation.

oregonoldster.bsky.social3

Well, he is Jesus after all. He can not only raise the dead, he can talk with them as well.

PyxelPye 📎 (Beth)2

This is the so effing bizarre. I wonder how he’d react to the Country Bear Jamboree at Disneyland.

Debra Meeks1

OMG. 🤮 is it time for another cognitive?

Billy Bongka1

What in the rambling dog fuck is he talking about.

Jeff Norman1

If this is real, he might think so.

Ward Q. Normal (he/him)

@wardqnormal.bsky.social

I wasn't a great student of history, so maybe I'm wrong, but my impression is that Teddy Roosevelt would have smacked the absolute shit out of him.

3185h ago

stride415.bsky.social8

And had him stuffed and placed in his foyer!

timeywhimey.bsky.social8

Trump would’ve found out the meaning of Rough Rider. Trump would also learn about national parks & a host of various things he is absolutely ignorant of

proud rebel scum ⚛️4

would've absolutely hated the blowhard fraud - yessir!

Whim Gruent4

"This is why I carry a big stick."

Alice Airgeadlámh2

I have an MA in history and can say with a high degree of confidence Teddy would have ended his whole career.

Gojira10002

Teddy would have curb-stomped him, then gone to have a beer

Grant Brisbee

@grantbrisbee.bsky.social

"He did all of these incredible things with cocks" is all i can hear, and now I gotta reread that Teddy Roosevelt biography

1815h ago

Emily4

lol! "Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders" sure hits different now.

Clairvie3

I believe it was supposed to be "parks".

Jack Norris3

I suspect if we knew who "Bubba" was in the Epstein files you could say the same thing about Trump.

Luke3

He is 82% dead. Just...

Jack Walsh2

He called it the "strenuous life" but amyl nitrates make it a lot easier.

LJTurtle✌🏽💖✊🏽2

Is anything he is saying about Teddy Roosevelt even true? 🙄

Quoting this

PHL SportsNut3

I think he meant to say "parks".

Alt US Forest Service

@altusfs.altgov.info

Just because Teddy Roosevelt is trending. The reason for the trend is stranger than fiction 😅 Maybe we could have an AI Teddy tutor Trump through the rest of the Presidency…

1295h ago

Peggy

@peggybishop.bsky.social

Ok, so he had a "conversation" with Teddy Roosevelt, who died in 1919. Spoke of Dems giving the Panama Canal away for a $1. And NO ONE asks how he spoke to a dead man?

1336h ago

Mueller, She Wrote121

It's an interactive AI thing where you can talk to Teddy.

KC Momkin2

The reflecting-pool is a sensory deprivation tank. That's why they had to fence it off. 😉

Jeremy P. Goldstein1

I miss when the press did a job.

The Horse Knuckler

@horseknuckler.bsky.social

Chat is it good when our wettest president thinks the hologram of teddy Roosevelt is real

825h ago

Melissa Mermaid 1

it would appear you're correct AF. He really doesn't grasp any of it.

bigalincal.bsky.social1

How long before we hear trump tell of how "Teddy Roosevelt, a big guy, with tears in his eyes, told me, sir! Sir! The country is so fortunate to have you, a greater president than me!"

Nancy Levine Stearns

@nancylevinestearns.bsky.social

Teddy Roosevelt’s family asked Trump to honor TR’s legacy of conservation of public lands. Trump ignored them and opened Boundary Waters to mining. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/c...

765h ago

Quoting this

SDDPHOTO2

Is there anything left for Trump to destroy or trash ????

Brown Eyed Susan

@browneyedsusan.bsky.social

Theodore Roosevelt said: "To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." What the fuck is Trump doing at his library, today?

7510h ago

Moose The Misanthrope ®️™️3

Probably in the corner touching himself looking at a mop in the broom closet thinking it was Ivanka..

Read&Resist3

I have a dream. That the ghost of TR rises up and strikes down PedoPrez & Burgum, waving a big National Park hiking stick and with a spirit of monopoly busting.

ghlori.bsky.social1

He's got a library? Seriously, like with books,Coloring books and Dementia puzzles and what not? No. I dont think theres a Shit for Brains Library. The last thing we need is a reminder of how far he fucked us over. I didn't vote for this and for him to show us us how far he cheated us and stole🤨

Dave Czaja1

The asshole is getting fitted for Teddy spectacles so he can replace him on Mt Rushmore.

April Wolfe

@aprilwolfe.bsky.social

He thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt, but he's really William Henry Harrison, so I really hope he does it.

945h ago

W.M.5

With William Howard Taft's physique, only not as well dressed.

Collin “Abolish ICE” Lieberg4

If only his presidency had lasted the same length as WHH.

Michael Pacholek3

Big difference. Theodore Roosevelt actually was shot. And spoke for an hour and a half anyway. October 14, 1912. The building is still there, by the way: Known as the Milwaukee Auditorium then, it's now the Miller High Life Theatre.

chrys scott1

When I was a kid, I heard that WHH died from eating too many cucumbers and giving a long speech in the rain. As an adult, I learned that although he didn't die from eating cukes, they were an issue. His parents wrote him several times telling him enough already with the cukes. From his mom: >