President Donald Trump wore a new “Happy Trump” lapel pin during an appearance in the White House East Room on Friday, even as he told reporters he is “never happy.” The moment came while Trump was at an event with oil executives discussing future U.S. control of Venezuela’s energy industry, according to the Associated Press.
When a reporter asked about the accessory, Trump said, “Somebody gave me this. Do you know what that is? That’s called a Happy Trump,” the AP reported. He held out the pin while describing his own disposition, continuing: “Considering the fact that I’m never happy, I’m never satisfied,” before adding that he was making progress toward his political goal.
“I will never be satisfied until we make America great again, but we’re getting pretty close, I tell you what. This is called a Happy Trump,” Trump said, according to the AP. The AP reported that Trump did not identify who gave him the pin.
The AP said the pin features Trump with a cartoonishly large head and an open-mouthed expression, and that some people online immediately characterized it as similar to a bobblehead-style version of the president. The AP also reported that Trump had previously worn a pin with the same design at least once, during a February ceremony in which he swore in Tulsi Gabbard as his Director of National Intelligence.
The AP report said that online searching found what appeared to be the same design available for sale on Amazon for $9.99, bundled together with a separate pin that imposes an American flag over an outline of a U.S. map. The report described the “Happy Trump” accessory as a small version of Trump on the lapel under the miniature American flag pin that presidents traditionally wear.
The AP noted that since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, U.S. presidents have generally worn an American flag pin on their lapels. It said former President Joe Biden occasionally added his own variation, including pins that combined an American flag with a Ukraine flag to show support for that country during its war with Russia.
The AP also said then-Sen. Barack Obama faced criticism in 2007 when he said he would no longer wear a flag pin, saying it had become a substitute for “true patriotism.” The AP reported that Obama resumed wearing a flag pin the following year after a veteran handed him one at a Pennsylvania town hall, prompting cheers as he put it on.
Friday’s pin was not the first Trump likeness to appear on a Washington lapel pin, the AP reported. In April, the AP said Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Commissions Commission, wore a small gold medallion shaped like Trump’s profile as a lapel pin, a detail the AP said was described in a post on X about a meeting on Capitol Hill with Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter.