June 23, 2026

President Donald Trump humiliated his Energy secretary in front of the full cabinet, cutting him off mid-sentence with "nobody cares."

Energy Secretary Chris Wright had barely launched into a story about Albert Einstein when Donald Trump interrupted him. The remarks came as Donald Trump signed executive orders directing federal agencies to accelerate the shift to post-quantum cryptography and boost domestic computing investment.

"A hundred twenty — a hundred forty-one years ago, Albert Einstein — a hundred twenty-one years ago, Albert Einstein published a paper —" Wright began.

"Nobody cares," Donald Trump said, cutting him off.

The Trump line prompted the other secretaries to laugh at the snub.

"Good point. Good point," Wright said.

"And usually, won't catch you, but then go ahead," the president told him.

Wright pressed on, using the Einstein story to praise Donald Trump's own family, noting that the scientist had laid the groundwork for modern quantum science. Forty years later, he said, the president's uncle built on those principles.

"Donald Trump's uncle, John Trump, was a pioneer in applying light radiation and the reflections of it to develop radar at the MIT radiation lab, critical in D-Day, critical in the end in winning World War II," Wright continued.

John G. Trump was a pioneering MIT electrical engineer who helped develop microwave radar during World War II and served as director of the Radiation Laboratory's British Branch.

Donald Trump, meanwhile, acknowledged he didn't know much about the orders he was signing.

"Does anybody know what that is?" he asked of quantum cryptography. "You'll hear very soon, so you're going to find it interesting."

The executive orders direct federal agencies to accelerate the shift to post-quantum encryption and funnel new investment into the domestic quantum computing industry.

Can you help us out?

For over 22 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but social media is limiting our ability to attract new readers. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon