Overview

• President Donald Trump’s Aug. 26 Cabinet meeting in the White House ran roughly three hours and 17 minutes, featuring extended digressions as officials took turns delivering effusive praise.
• At one point Trump gestured to Attorney General Pam Bondi and said, “I would never say she’s beautiful, because that’s gonna be the end of my political career,” a remark that landed amid scrutiny of her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
• A widely shared montage compiled by MeidasTouch and replayed across major outlets highlighted the praise, with CNN’s Maggie Haberman calling the gathering an “endurance test” of who could flatter Trump more.
• Examples cited included Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer inviting Trump to view a giant banner of his face at her department, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declaring the country “has never been so secure,” and envoy Steve Witkoff urging a Nobel Prize for Trump.
• Trump also mocked Democratic leaders and leaned into strongman rhetoric, saying some would “rather have a dictator” and asserting sweeping authority, drawing comparisons from analysts to ministerial rituals in personalist regimes.