![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/president-donald-trump-speaks-during-a-cabinet-meeting-at-th-RUFVCPCSANBN5I22J2ML7J2CHE.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPresident Donald Trump may believe the adage that the pen is mightier than the sword \u2014 as long as it’s a Sharpie.<\/p>\n
During a Cabinet meeting today that discussed the war in Iran, record-long security lines at many of the nation’s top airports, rising oil prices and skittish stock markets, the President interjected by holding up a custom-made black and gold Sharpie and offering a long story about how his preferred marker came to be a White House fixture.<\/p>\n
\u201cSee this pen right here?\u201d Trump said at the start of a roughly five-minute, on-and-off diatribe on the Sharpie. \u201cThis pen is an interesting example.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was one of several lengthy asides the president made during the meeting that sometimes felt especially jarring, given how many more important things his top advisers could have been discussing. The Sharpie monologue came after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, envoy Steve Witkoff, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered sobering comments about missile strikes, Tehran’s uranium enrichment efforts and the US troops that remain in harm’s way.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
The President offered the winding tale as an example of how his business sense can lead to better, cheaper outcomes in federal spending. He was also seeking to drive home his broader, long-standing criticism that renovations to the Federal Reserve Building in Washington are too expensive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve gotta get our priorities straight,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
Trump’s anecdote began with him insisting that the White House was once stocked with \u201cbeautiful\u201d ballpoint pens that cost $1000 each.<\/p>\n
That presented a problem, Trump said, when, during ceremonial bill signings, he would hand out pens as keepsakes to lawmakers, supporters and various others who helped make new legislation possible. Recipients even included children, whom he lamented did not know the value of what they’d been gifted.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes you have 30, 40 people,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
Despite being known for a love of all things ostentatious \u2014 including the sprawling, US$400 million (NZ$695 million) White House ballroom he demolished the East Wing to build \u2014 Trump said giving away so many expensive pens meant \u201cI feel guilty by nature\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the government like I love myself, economically,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI want to save money.\u201d<\/p>\n
The President said he worked with a marker maker and worried about giving the company involved too much publicity, only to divulge that it was Sharpie, a longtime favourite of his. For decades as a celebrity businessman, he used the pens to sign autographs or mark up newspaper clippings and send them with personalised notes written in the telltale thick black ink. And, as president, Trump has continued to wield the pens to sign executive orders, proclamations and bills.<\/p>\n
![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/president-donald-trump-speaks-during-a-cabinet-meeting-at-th-F5AF5DXR4NEJ3F2ZXF3UFMXGS4.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Washington. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Trump said he contacted Sharpie and was told that they could make a black pen with the White House logo in gold and that they wouldn’t charge for it. Trump said he insisted on paying $5 per marker. Online searches reveal that typical Sharpies sell for usually US$1 to US$2 apiece.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe head of Sharpie gets a call. I don\u2019t even know who the hell he is. He said, \u2018Is this really the president?\u2019\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
It was the most attention the marker has gotten at the White House since the \u201cSharpiegate\u201d scandal involving Hurricane Dorian during Trump\u2019s first term. Still, Sharpie\u2019s manufacturer, Atlanta-based Newell Brands, said in a statement that it didn\u2019t have any information about the conversation Trump described, but that Sharpies are used by current and past US presidents, elected officials, celebrities, athletes, and artists, among others.<\/p>\n
Trump summed it up as \u201ca business story.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor $5, I get a much better pen than for $1000, and I can hand them out,\u201d Trump said. \u201cAnd, honestly, they\u2019ve become hot as a pistol, so what can I tell you?\u201d<\/p>\n
After concluding his Sharpie story, Trump took a moment to revel in his own storytelling ability before offering the floor to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood luck, Scott,\u201d he said as the rest of the Cabinet laughed again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, sir,\u201d Bessent offered, \u201cas usual, you\u2019re a tough act to follow\u201d.<\/p>\n
The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including evacuations amid Northland flooding, the IOC makes a ruling on trans athletes, and Christchurch\u2019s new stadium opens. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump may believe the adage that the pen is mightier than the sword \u2014 as long…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[65,42,43,64,40,38,41,39,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-349622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-north-america","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories","16":"tag-us-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}