Give the man credit for pacing, if nothing else, because he actually made it a full day.
When Dolly Parton died Tuesday at 80, plenty of people online braced themselves for an awkward reaction from the president. His first response landed better than expected. On Truth Social, he wrote, “There has never been anyone like her, and never will,” and announced flags nationwide would fly at half-staff for a week.
Very sad to report that Dolly Parton, one of the greatest Country singers, and far beyond, EVER, has just passed away. This is a true loss for millions of people. There has never been anyone like her, and never will. In her honor, I am lowering the American flag throughout the… pic.twitter.com/WICghhk73d
— Commentary Donald J. Trump Truth Social Posts On X (@TrumpTruthOnX) August 25, 2026
That restraint looked like it might actually hold, and people almost let themselves believe he’d stick the landing. Then Wednesday morning rolled around, and it turned out the landing had a pretty short shelf life.
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Trump joined the Glenn Beck Program, and the conversation took a turn early on. “I knew her a little bit. She wasn’t a very political person,” he told Beck, before landing on the comment that’s since taken over social media: “She really liked me, I will tell you.”
Beck reportedly cracked up right after hearing it, which says plenty about how the moment played out in that room.
The interview only got more interesting after that. Trump went on to suggest Parton stayed quiet about her fondness for him publicly because “she was of the opinion… who needs to lose… probably 20% of the fans.”
Trump on Dolly Parton: “She really liked me, I will tell you” pic.twitter.com/Ha39wOXnlo
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 26, 2026
That theory runs into a fairly obvious problem, though.
Parton spent her entire career staying loudly and proudly nonpolitical, and it wasn’t because she was quietly picking sides behind the scenes. “I don’t do politics,” she said for years, in interview after interview. She also turned down the Presidential Medal of Freedom three separate times, twice while Trump was in office and once under Biden, which doesn’t exactly line up with someone secretly rooting for one administration over another.
Still, credit where it’s due: the flag gesture itself wasn’t a small thing. A full week of mourning is longer than some tributes Trump has ordered for actual heads of state and close allies.
And that’s what makes the follow-up interview land so awkwardly by comparison. He handled the big symbolic gesture well, then added, “I liked her a lot, and I thought it was a natural thing to lower the flags,” right before pivoting back to himself anyway.
Featured image via X screengrab
