No, that wasn’t Donald Trump on C-SPAN Friday morning.
Back in his 1980s real estate days, Donald Trump was known for calling up reporters and posing as a spokesman, using the name “John Barron,” and feeding them scoops about whatever Trump was up to at the time, whether real estate projects or his love life. Most of the reporters seemed to clearly see through the ruse, completely aware that “Barron” didn’t exist and it was Trump himself on the phone.
On Friday morning, the Barron bit appeared to be resurrected, as a caller going by that name called into C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” show and praised Trump effusively, while sounding an awful lot like someone doing a Trump impression.
“This is a terrible decision, and you have Hakeem Jeffries, who … he’s a dope,” the caller said. “And you have Chuck Schumer, who can’t cook a cheeseburger. Of course these people are happy. Of course, these people are happy. But true Americans will not be happy.”
a guy who claimed to be named John Barron and sounded a lot like Trump called into C-SPAN to complain about the Supreme Court’s tariff decision and call Hakeem Jeffries “a dope”
(John Barron is a pseudonym Trump has used for himself when talking to journalists) pic.twitter.com/UixNjll7NB
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 22, 2026
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
The clip quickly went viral, although there was some skepticism right away about whether it was really Trump bringing back his old Barron routine. For one thing, it didn’t quite sound like him, mostly because “Barron” spoke much more quickly than Trump does these days. Also, while Trump has certain media outlets whose coverage he cares about and complains about, Trump has never cared about C-SPAN, or given much indication that he even knows it exists. And Trump has not used the “John Barron” gambit in at least 30 years.
Alas, C-SPAN put an end to the mystery on Sunday, issuing a statement confirming that the caller was not actually the president.
“Because so many of you are talking about Friday’s C-SPAN caller who identified himself as “John Barron,” we want to put this to rest: it was not the president,” the network said in an X post on Sunday. “The call came from a central Virginia phone number and came while the president was in a widely covered, in-person White House meeting with the governors. Tune into C-SPAN for the actual president at the State of the Union Address on Tuesday night.”
Because so many of you are talking about Friday’s C-SPAN caller who identified himself as “John Barron,” we want to put this to rest: it was not the president. The call came from a central Virginia phone number and came while the president was in a widely covered, in-person…
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 22, 2026
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
