Donald Trump today showed off the military dog who took down the leader of ISIS, saying he awarded Conan a “medal and a plaque.”
“We just gave him a medal and a plaque,” Trump told reporters Monday during the press conference. “I actually think Conan knew exactly what was going on – a dog that is very, very special. Maybe you can say something about the type of dog. They were going to put a muzzle on the dog and I thought that was a good idea … but the dog is incredible. Actually incredible. We spent some good time with it. So brilliant. So smart.”
Trump did not pet the dog during the speech, but Vice President Mike Pence was on hand to give Conan plenty of head scratches.
“Conan is really here and it’s a real joy to help bring him to the White House,” Pence said after praising Trump for the raid that led to the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
“Conan is a tough cookie. And nobody is going to mess with him,” Trump said. “And yet you see how beautiful and calm they are in situations like this.”
“Conan is not retiring yet, Conan is prime time,” the president responded when a reporter asked if Conan was retiring.
But what the Internet seemed to notice most is that Melania wanted nothing to do with the hero dog. She stood as far away as she could from the dog, and even her husband refused to pet the dog.
Twitter was pretty shocked:
It's gives me hope that Pence actually makes an effort to touch the dog. There may be hope for him yet. Dog-hating Trump and Melania will be dousing themselves with hand gel right afterwards, I'm sure. Talk about human scum.
— EV Rider (@EVRider77) November 25, 2019 [1]
Dear sweet baby Jesus, neither Melania nor Trump can even pretend to be human. How can anyone not pet a dog that has that big of a smile!?!
— Mercelyn 'Kamala 2020' S (@Mersch77) November 25, 2019 [2]
Could Melania be any further away from everyone? What’s wrong, she doesn’t like dogs? She’s so annoyingly awkward.
— Alyssa (@AlyssaDowning01) November 25, 2019 [3]
Why is Melania acting like the dog is radioactive?
— NoOneSpecial (@11drizzzt11) November 25, 2019 [4]
It says a lot that both Trump & Melania are so stiff, and refuse to get too close to, or to pet the ‘hero dog’, Conan🐕
That good boy deserves a lifetime of juicy bones 🦴+ belly-rubs, not this silly staged photo op https://t.co/lvdSxXKe8W [5]
— 🆘#ImpeachTrump!😷 (@TheMominatrixx) November 25, 2019 [6]
Why does Melania look afraid and why does Trump refer to the hero dog as "it"?
— PoliticalMama (@politicalmablog) November 25, 2019 [7]
Look at where Melania is standing @mikefreemanNFL [8]. She’s away from dog & as far from Trump as possible pic.twitter.com/cLpTKi4BNj [9]
— Josh Campbell (@CampbellJD) November 25, 2019 [10]
Look at Trump and Melania both staying as far away from the dog as possible. This is utterly pathetic.
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) November 25, 2019 [11]
"Melania, do you want to adopt the dog for Barron?" pic.twitter.com/Ay0yTCNDmO [12]
— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) November 25, 2019 [13]