11 Times Donald Trump Was Not Very "Demure" Or Very "Mindful"

If you've been online this week, you've likely noticed a new value has entered the space: being very demure, very mindful, and very cutesy.

Twitter: @mxniquejade_

The phrasing was popularized by TikToker Jools Lebron — otherwise known as @joolieannie on the app — who emphasizes the importance of being "demure," aka acting appropriately in a given setting, being respectful to others, not doing "too much," and generally remaining humble, modest, considerate, and classy.

The Walt Disney Company / Via Twitter: @nu_mindframe

A video labeling Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris as the essence of demure and former president Donald Trump as the antithesis has recently gone viral online:

TikTok: underthedesknews / Via tiktok.com

To investigate Trump's true demure level, we looked at times when he wasn't very cutesy, very mindful, or very demure. Here's what we found:

1.Did you see how Trump seemed to brag about his role in reversing Roe v. Wade? Not very demure. Not very mindful of women's bodies and basic healthcare.

On Truth Social, he wrote, "After 50 years of failure, with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade, much to the 'shock' of everyone... Without me there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to. Without me the pro Life movement would have just kept losing."

Now, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, less than half of all US states have laws protecting abortion rights, and women are subsequently forced to travel through states to receive critical, lifesaving care when medical intervention is needed to save the life of the mother or the fetus from immediate, painful fatalities post-birth.

2.Did you hear Trump say he wants to eliminate the Department of Education and have state governments individually “run the education of our children?" Not very demure. Not very sweet-sy. Not very mindful of how school districts upholding different metrics will disrupt standard milestones and students' ability to keep track with peers in their same grade.

Dismantling the Department of Education is supported and endorsed by the far-right conservative plan Project 2025. According to EducationWeek, a non-partisan news organization, limiting or removing the department paves the way for dark possibilities, including the disappearance of Title I, “the $18 billion federal fund that supports low-income students,” and the “federal government’s ability to enforce civil rights laws in schools would be scaled back.”

3.Did you hear Trump say he wants to pardon the Jan. 6 rioters who stormed the Capitol to stop the certification of the results of the 2020 election? Not very demure. Not very mindful of the 140 Capitol officers who were assaulted by rioters or the over $2 million in damages they caused.

During an interview at the 2024 National Association of Black Journalists conference, Trump was asked if he would pardon rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. “My question is on those rioters who assaulted officers, would you pardon those people?” a journalist asked. “Oh, absolutely I would. If they’re innocent, I would pardon them,” Trump said.

“They’ve been convicted,” the reporter responded.

“Well, they were convicted by a very, very tough system,” Trump said.

4.Did you see how Trump said he lowered insulin copayments to $35, claiming “Kamala and Joe tried to take credit?” Not very demure. Not very mindful. And a lie — it was Biden-Harris who signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act which capped insulin costs at $35 a month for all Medicare Part D plans. Trump implemented a temporary, voluntary model that capped insulin to $35 for only some Medicare Part D plans and a subset of insulins.

In comparison, Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act is available to all insulin users with Medicare Part D plans and covers all insulins. Additionally, while Trump said his lower insulin pricing extended to ‘millions of Americans,’ the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services estimates 800,000 insulin users had access to $35 co-pays versus 3.3 million Americans under Biden’s provision.

Further, Project 2025 wants to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, which would increase prescription drug costs, including the protected $35 cap for insulin, for millions of Americans.

5.Remember when Trump became the first president in United States history to be tried and criminally convicted? Not very demure. Not very mindful of the American legal system.

After deliberating for 10 hours, a jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records to cover up an alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. He faces possible fines, probation, or even jail time. In response to being found guilty on 34 counts, ABC News reported that the former president “rallied” against the judge, calling the trial “rigged [and] disgraceful.”

In the wake of his conviction, Trump went on the defense during an interview on Fox & Friends, where he denied ever using the phrase “Lock her up” in relationship to Hillary Clinton — which, obviously, is a lie. Here’s a catalog BuzzFeed kept of the multiple times Trump urged Americans to aid in “locking up” Clinton.

6.Did you see how Trump said if elected, he would give police officers “immunity from prosecution?” Not very demure. Not very mindful, and frankly, pretty ironic coming from someone who routinely claims that the justice system is corrupt.

In an interview with NABJ, Trump told a journalist: “We need to have our police officers have the respect and dignity back… If I felt, or if a group of people felt that someone was being unfairly prosecuted because the person did a good job, maybe with crime, or made a mistake, an innocent mistake, there’s a big difference between being a bad person and making an innocent mistake. If someone made an innocent mistake, I would want to help that person.”

7.Did you see Trump say that if reelected, he will reinstate his 2017 transgender military ban? Not very demure. Not very mindful of the transgender Americans who sacrifice to serve our country and protect our freedoms as citizens.

During his four-year run as president, Trump issued a ban on transgender people serving in the US military — a policy reversal that affected thousands of soldiers.

In response, doctors and medical students within the American Medical Association, the largest physician association in the US, sent a letter to then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis saying, "There is no medically valid reason — including a diagnosis of gender dysphoria — to exclude transgender individuals from military service."

Trump's rationale leaned heavily on "tremendous medical costs" that "transgender in the military would entail." ...

Twitter: @realDonaldTrump

Twitter: @realDonaldTrump

Twitter: @realDonaldTrump

...However, as American Medical Association CEO Dr. James Madara wrote in the AMA letter, "The financial cost is negligible and a rounding error in the defense budget. It should not be used as a reason to deny patriotic Americans an opportunity to serve their country. We should be honoring their service."

Side note: The announcement was seen as ironic coming from someone who deferred the Vietnam military draft now banning other Americans willing to serve their country.

8.Do you see how Trump keeps referencing “the late, great Hannibal Lecter” in his speeches? Not very demure. Not very cute-sy, and honestly, very weird.

Most of the time, it’s nonsensical, and many point out that Trump might just be stuck in the ‘80s (The Silence of the Lambs came out in 1991, but it’s a period reminiscent of Trump’s celebrity heyday).

Why does Trump keep riffing on Hannibal Lecter, a fictional serial killer who 1) never died, so not sure why Trump calls him “late” and 2) is inarguably not great? Well, no one really knows, but he often brings Lecter up when disparaging immigrants.

I guess by referencing a killer while making baseless claims about migrants emptying their "insane asylums,” he wants to dehumanize and stereotype migrants. But there’s little evidence that undocumented immigrants commit more crimes than US citizens, and only about 1% of people arrested at the southern border have criminal convictions, according to the Washington Post.

9.Do you see how Donald Trump discredits the existence of biracial people by suggesting Kamala Harris cannot be Black and Indian? Not very demure. Not very considerate of an experience shared by over 33 million Americans who identify as multiracial.

When speaking at an NABJ conference in July, Trump was posed with this question from a moderator: "Some of your own supporters, including Republicans on Capitol Hill, have labeled Vice President Kamala Harris — who is the first Black and Asian American woman to serve as Vice President or be on a major party ticket — as a 'DEI hire.' Is that acceptable language to you? And will you tell those Republicans and those supporters to stop it?"

The question appears simple, as Harris’s identity as the daughter of the late Shyamala Gopalan, an Indian biologist who helped advance breast cancer research, and Donald J. Harris, a Jamaican economics professor at Stanford University, cannot be denied. However, instead of answering, Trump initially skirted around the question and asked, "How do you define DEI? Go ahead. How do you define it?" And when the host answered, "Diversity, equity, and inclusion," Trump pushed back, "Ok yeah, go ahead. Is that what your definition is? Give me a definition... You have to define it."

After more pressing from the moderator, the 78-year-old answered the question by saying, "I've known her a long time indirectly, not directly very much. And she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn't know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black. And now she wants to be known as Black. So I don't know. Is she Indian, or is she Black?"

He doubled down on this theory, suggesting people cannot belong to two races on Truth Social, where he wrote, “Crazy Kamala is saying she’s Indian, not Black. This is a big deal. Stone cold phony. She uses everybody, including her racial identity!"

10.Do you remember when Trump declared there were some “very fine people on both sides” after the deadly white nationalist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017? Not very mindful of victims.

One such victim was Heather Heyer, 32, who was killed by a white supremacist who deliberately plowed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters.

After an onslaught of criticism that Trump was endorsing white supremacists, Trump and his supporters like to point out that Trump also condemned neo-Nazis and white nationalists in the statement. But no matter how you slice it, pointing out that there is “blame on both sides” downplays the racist intentions of the protesters that day. As the Washington Post pointed out in a 2020 assessment, it’s not clear any protesters weren’t rallying with white nationalist intentions.

11.And finally, do you see how Trump uses artists' music, seemingly without authorization? Not very demure. Not very cute-sy.

A clip of Trump playing Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” at a rally recently went viral, and Celine has since claimed he took her work without authorization.

A statement released on Celine's Twitter account reads: “Today, Celine Dion’s management team and her record label, Sony Music Entertainment Canada Inc., became aware of the unauthorized usage of the video, recording, musical performance, and likeness of Celine Dion singing ‘My Heart Will Go On’ at a Donald Trump / JD Vance campaign rally in Montana. In no way is this use authorized, and Celine Dion does not endorse this or any similar use. …AND REALLY, THAT SONG?”

Additional artists such as Panic! At the Disco, Ozzy Osbourne, and Rihanna have also pointed fingers at Trump for using their songs without permission.

Twitter: @celinedion

Not very demure of a former president of the United States. If you recall other times Trump wasn’t very considerate, please share in the comments.

You know what IS demure and dare we say even cute? Making sure you are registered to vote. Be mindful of the the rules in your location and make sure your registration is up to date here.