Trump appears to provoke Navy crowd in Virginia into booing Obama, but is met with dead silence | Video
In an awkward moment, Donald Trump appeared to try to provoke a crowd into booing former president Barack Obama, but was instead met with silence.
Donald Trump appeared to try to provoke a crowd into booing former president Barack Obama, but was instead met with silence, a video has shown. The incident happened during the US President’s speech at the Navy's 250th anniversary celebration in Virginia on Sunday, September 5. The event took place in Naval Station Norfolk.
At one point during his speech, Trump praised his former White House doctor Ronny Jackson, who served in the role for the presidencies of Obama and George W. Bush too, as a "man everybody loves." While naming Obama as one of Jackson's past patients, Trump referred to the former president as "Barack Hussein Obama," asking the crowd, "have you heard of him?”
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Trump was seen pausing and looking around, appearing to wait for the crowd to respond with an applause, or boos. However, the crowd remained silent. Trump quickly moved on from the awkward moment.
‘The silence wasn’t passive—it was principled’
Netizens reacted to the above video, with one commenting, “In the past these Navy Seamen, who are overwhelmingly White, would have booed on cue when Trump derisively used Obama's entire name to imply he's not like us. The fact they didn't take the bait is encouraging. Maybe the discipline of the military brass during Trump's recent speech showed them they don't need to be sidemen to his tired act.” “But the Navy didn’t bite. The silence wasn’t passive—it was principled. In a space governed by duty, discipline, and constitutional neutrality, service members refused to be cast as political props. Their restraint becomes a quiet rebuke, a reminder that the armed forces are not a campaign rally, and that respect for civilian leadership; past and present; is not optional. It’s foundational,” wrote another.
“None of the guys behind him wanna clap and you can see it in all their faces,” one user wrote, while another said, “Not the flex he thought it would be”. One commented, “Even if they agreed with him it's still their job to keep up the poker face, so if trump is expecting hooting and hollering like one of his hillbilly rallies then this is all he's going to get.”
Trump was almost an hour late for his speech at the event, The Mirror reported. He wrote in a Truth Social post before leaving the White House for the base on Sunday, “It will be a big day with the Navy. Leaving now. The United States has the greatest military, by far, in the World. This will be a show of Naval aptitude and strength. ENJOY WATCHING! It will be broadcast everywhere. President DJT."
