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Staff Beg Sleepy Trump, 79, to Keep His Eyes Open

The president is increasingly struggling to keep his eyes open when the cameras are rolling.

President Donald Trump’s staff is begging him to keep his eyes open while the cameras are rolling, an insider tells the Wall Street Journal. White House aides are reportedly “fearing the optics of his appearing to fall asleep.” If that’s the case, their fears are becoming reality, as Trump, 79, has routinely dozed off at public events in recent months—though he maintains that he is just giving his eyes a rest, not sleeping. “I’ll just close. It’s very relaxing to me,” Trump has said of shutting his eyes. “Sometimes they’ll take a picture of me blinking, blinking, and they’ll catch me with the blink.” Critics are not buying that line. Cameras have captured Trump with his eyes closed for an extended period on multiple occasions, including at a Cabinet meeting last month. The issue has become so serious, administration officials tell the Journal that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has “urged cabinet members to shorten their presentations” so the president does not become bored and doze off. Trump has long boasted that he requires little sleep to get by. His public snoozing has not changed his habits, the Journal reports, as he still requires at least one staff member to stay up with him on Air Force One while others sleep.