February 19, 2026

Donald J. Trump rambled throughout his first Board of Peace meeting on Thursday. It didn't go down well for Vice President J.D. Vance, either, after he attempted to tell a "joke" about Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, which went down worse than Melania's ticket sales at the box office. No one laughed.

Trump spoke of the renaming of yet another entity in his name. The backstory: This month, the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C. got a shiny new name slapped on it: the Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute of Peace. Because nothing says "peace" quite like a hostile takeover, amirite? The Trump administration muscled its way into controlling the organization, a move that, unsurprisingly, was not met with universal applause — and ended up being challenged in court.

And here comes the grift.

"This building was built for peace, and nobody knew what to name it," he falsely said. "And then Marco named it after me. I had nothing to do with it. I swear I didn't. I swear. I had no idea."

"They said, there's a surprise coming," he continued. "I didn't know the surprise. "I thought they were going to give me a lot of money or something, maybe cash. You can always use some extra cash."

"But I came, and they stopped the beautiful beast," he said. "I got out very safely, I'm sure, and looked up, and there it said, Donald J. Trump on the building. When I say that that had nothing to do — nobody believes it, and that's okay."

Imagine if Biden said that. Scratch that. Imagine if any other President said that. And don't tell me it was a joke because that shit isn't funny, OK?

Trump: "This building was built for peace. Nobody knew what to name it, and then Marco named it after me. I had nothing to do with it. I swear. They said, 'There's a surprise coming.' I thought they were gonna give me a lot of money or something. Maybe cash. Can always use some extra cash."

Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-02-19T14:50:00.090Z

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