Donald Trump appeared on Usha Vance’s podcast Storytime with the Second Lady on Friday, joining a literacy-focused segment for children ahead of the Fourth of July.
The episode was part of Vance’s summer reading push for children, a campaign tied to her “Storytime with the Second Lady” series, which features guest readers and picture books intended to encourage early literacy.
The book chosen for the reading was:
“Presidents Play,”
Published by the White House Historical Association, it explores how different US presidents spent their spare time while serving in office, from athletic pursuits and hobbies to work on their homes. The association says the book highlights activities including running, swimming, basketball, tennis, sailing, fishing, golf, and Hoover Ball.
Trump did not stay closely tied to the page for long, instead adding his own remarks throughout the reading as he commented on several of his predecessors in the Oval Office. The segment was pre-taped in mid-June and posted online on Friday, July 3, just before the Independence Day holiday.
When the book referenced William Howard Taft, the 27th president and the one most often remembered for his size, Trump turned the moment into a joke about his own weight, saying he did not want to:
“supersede his record.”
Usha has a very special guest on her podcast today, President Donald J. Trump! It’s great and one of my favorite episodes so far pic.twitter.com/bs2WttHVCS
— JD Vance (@JDVance) July 3, 2026
He then spoke directly to the children watching, adding:
“For all of you out there watching, keep yourself in good shape, right?”
Taft was not the only former president to receive some personal commentary. When John F. Kennedy came up, Trump offered what sounded like a compliment while leaving room to suggest someone else ranked ahead of him, calling JFK:
“the second-most good-looking president,”
He also questioned Barack Obama’s reputation as a basketball player and suggested golf was the sport he truly preferred, before saying Obama:
“won’t be in the Masters anytime soon.”
Not every aside was critical. Trump sounded more complimentary when Bill Clinton was mentioned, describing the former president as:
“a nice guy”
He followed that by saying he still likes Clinton:
“a lot.”
Elsewhere, Trump repeatedly connected the book’s anecdotes about earlier presidents to his own time in office.
After a section on Harry Truman’s fondness for walking through Washington DC, Trump used the moment to talk up his own efforts on crime in the capital, saying the city had:
“become a very safe place”
He also brought up John Quincy Adams’ habit of swimming in Tiber Creek, noting that the new White House ballroom being built in place of the East Wing sits where the creekbed once was.
Trump also mentioned Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Herbert Hoover, Abraham Lincoln, and Gerald Ford as the book moved through different presidential pastimes, using each reference as a springboard for jokes or personal comments.
As the segment came to a close, Trump offered a message to children listening ahead of Independence Day. He described the country as being:
“on a little bit of a ledge,”
“We have a great country,” he said. “It can go one way or another, you understand that. But we’re going to make it go the other way.”
Trump also acknowledged that his reading tends to be limited mostly to news coverage, telling Vance he usually reads newspaper stories:
“about myself.”