Henry Winkler’s Trump Video Query Gains Traction Online

Legendary TV actor Henry Winkler has questioned what Donald Trump was doing with a water bottle during a recent panel appearance.

The former president appeared at an event hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), where he answered questions on stage in Chicago on Wednesday. Trump said he wanted to do the Q&A session to focus “on the most pressing issues facing the Black community.”

He sat in an armchair alongside the panel’s hosts, ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott, Fox News host Harris Faulkner and Semafor reporter Kadia Goba. Each of the people on stage had a small table to their right on which sat a glass and small plastic bottle of water. In one video posted to X, Trump appeared to pick up Scott’s water bottle and twist the top.

“Why did Trump grab her water bottle and tighten it? Yall see this?” user Alex Cole posted to X.

Winkler reposted the video and asked, “does anyone know [sic].”

The replies to Winkler’s question were varied, with some saying Trump was helping Scott open the bottle, and others suggesting he picked it up in error and some even suggesting it was a “power move.”

“Cause he’s a weirdo. 🤷🏻‍♀️” replied @raintree007.

Another person, @jonvirtes, added: “I remember reading somewhere along the way that he has some OCD thing with the water bottles near him. Used to drive the film crew of The Apprentice crazy. They’d cut, he’d move everything and there’d be no continuity to shots. Not to excuse it at all. It’s a crazy rude thing to do.”

“Grabbing the water bottle was either a conscious or subconscious act to assert some dominance. But then he realized he couldn’t open the bottle and gave up real quick probably to save himself anymore embarrassment,” wrote @hillaryhutton.

And @nadinegness commented: “It was his own bottle. You can see him drinking from it earlier. Wow you guys are reaching hard.”

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, criticized the event for allegedly starting late and opening with a “rude” question.

It came to a sudden end when Faulkner tried to ask the former president about Project 2025, which is a controversial policy agenda drafted by a conservative think tank that lays out proposals for a future Republican administration. Trump has previously distanced himself from the 900-page document.

As Faulkner began to speak, Scott said the panel needed to wrap up at the direction of Trump’s team.

Black journalists had mixed reactions to Trump’s appearance, including the co-chair of the NABJ conference, Karen Attiah, who resigned from her position just hours before the panel.

She said on social media that a “variety” of factors had influenced her decision, and that she had not been consulted about giving Trump a “platform” at the convention.