Donald Trump asks Pittsburgh crowd how Joe Paterno — who died in 2012 — is doing


People of Pittsburgh, forgive Donald Trump — he's so busy affixing his name to buildings, tweeting every thought that comes into his head, and painting things gold that he missed the news in 2012 that Joe Paterno died.
Trump is known to make off-the-cuff statements, and on Wednesday, his strategy backfired when he asked a crowd in Pittsburgh how Paterno, the former head coach of the Penn State football team, was doing. Reporters at the event say the crowd was confused and didn't know how to respond, largely due to the fact that Paterno famously died right after he was famously let go as a result of the infamous child abuse scandal that rocked the football program.
In addition to asking about the welfare of a dead man, Trump asked, "Are we going to bring that back? How about that whole deal?" so it's certainly possible that he did hear the news that Paterno was fired, but not that he died from lung cancer two months later. Who wants to break it to Trump that Breaking Bad is finished, the country has moved on from "Gangnam Style," and Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries are over?
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Trump picks conservative BLS critic to lead BLS
speed read He has nominated the Heritage Foundation's E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics
-
Trump takes over DC police, deploys National Guard
Speed Read The president blames the takeover on rising crime, though official figures contradict this concern
-
Trump sends FBI to patrol DC, despite falling crime
Speed Read Washington, D.C., 'has become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world,' Trump said
-
Trump officials reinstating 2 Confederate monuments
Speed Read The administration has plans to 'restore Confederate names and symbols' discarded in the wake of George Floyd's 2020 murder
-
Trump nominates Powell critic for vacant Fed seat
speed read Stephen Miran, the chair of Trump's Council of Economic Advisers and a fellow critic of Fed chair Jerome Powell, has been nominated to fill a seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
-
ICE scraps age limits amid hiring push
Speed Read Anyone 18 or older can now apply to be an ICE agent
-
Trump's global tariffs take effect, with new additions
Speed Read Tariffs on more than 90 US trading partners went into effect, escalating the global trade war
-
House committee subpoenas Epstein files
Speed Read The House Oversight Committee has issued a subpoena to the Justice Department for its Jeffrey Epstein files with an Aug. 19 deadline