Yes, President Trump has met former President Ronald Reagan. No, Reagan never predicted Trump's political future.
On Monday, Trump retweeted a meme from an account seemingly impersonating the conservative Reagan Battalion, which featured a real photo of Trump shaking hands with the former president. Superimposed over the image was a supposed quote from Reagan, which read "When I met that young man, I felt like I was the one shaking hands with a president."
The quote has circulated since the days of Trump's 2016 campaign, and Snopes and PolitiFact have both found it to be false. Meanwhile, the fake Reagan Battalion account was quickly suspended, though Trump hasn't deleted his tweet calling the meme "cute!"
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 TikTok trend has Gen Z men leaving streetwear behind for more preppy attireThe Explainer More than a zipper: Young Black men embrace the ‘quarter-zip movement‘
-
Sudoku hard: December 12, 2025The daily hard sudoku puzzle from The Week
-
Codeword: December 12, 2025The daily codeword puzzle from The Week
-
‘The menu’s other highlights smack of the surreal’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Democrat files to impeach RFK Jr.Speed Read Rep. Haley Stevens filed articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-
$1M ‘Trump Gold Card’ goes live amid travel rule furorSpeed Read The new gold card visa offers an expedited path to citizenship in exchange for $1 million
-
US seizes oil tanker off VenezuelaSpeed Read The seizure was a significant escalation in the pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
-
Judge orders release of Ghislaine Maxwell recordsSpeed Read The grand jury records from the 2019 prosecution of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will be made public
-
Miami elects first Democratic mayor in 28 yearsSpeed Read Eileen Higgins, Miami’s first woman mayor, focused on affordability and Trump’s immigration crackdown in her campaign
-
The Trump administration says it deports dangerous criminals. ICE data tells a different story.IN THE SPOTLIGHT Arrest data points to an inconvenient truth for the White House’s ongoing deportation agenda
-
Ex-FBI agents sue Patel over protest firingspeed read The former FBI agents were fired for kneeling during a 2020 racial justice protest for ‘apolitical tactical reasons’
