US President Donald Trump joked about hosting an unprecedented gathering of America’s living former presidents, suggesting they could reunite at the White House to watch a football game together.The remark came during an episode of Storytime with the Second Lady, a YouTube podcast hosted by US Second Lady Usha Vance. Released on Friday ahead of the 250th anniversary of American Independence, the episode featured Trump reading President’s Play!, a children’s book published by the White House Historical Association that explores how US presidents spent their leisure time.As Trump reached a page showing a president hosting a Super Bowl watch party at the White House, he proposed bringing together some of his predecessors despite years of public political clashes with several of them. “Maybe I should invite Barack Hussein Obama, Joe Biden, with the Bushes — or Bush. Maybe I should invite some of those people to watch a football game together,” Trump said.“Wouldn’t that be a nice story? The press would go wild,” he added.Vance responded, “A president reunion? That would be fun.”The suggestion stood out given Trump’s long-running attacks on former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, whom he has regularly criticised at campaign rallies, public events and press conferences.The conversation also included Trump talking about serving in the White House. “You know, my attitude is you’re at the White House for a short period of time and it’s an honour to be here and you should work for the people, right?” Trump said.While reading through the book’s illustrations of former commanders-in-chief, Trump paused at a page about Bill Clinton’s fitness routine and unexpectedly spoke warmly about the former Democratic president. “That’s nice. I didn’t even know that until recently, but he had a track built at the White House,” Trump said.“I don’t think I’ll ever do that. I don’t see myself doing that. I don’t know. But he actually was a nice guy. I like Bill Clinton a lot. I still do,” Trump said.Trump also offered a humorous take on William Howard Taft, recalling the former president’s well-known love of baseball.“He was a large man, very large. And he loved baseball. He’d go to baseball games, loved the hot dogs at the baseball games,” he said.“He was our heaviest president, and I have to be careful ’cause I don’t want to supersede his record. And a thing like that would be possible if I allowed it to happen,” Trump said.Further asked by Vance whether he gets time to read for pleasure as president, Trump said his reading largely revolves around current affairs.“I usually read stories about myself,” Trump said.As he continued reading the book, Trump shared his impressions of several former presidents, describing Lyndon Johnson as a “tough cookie,” Ronald Reagan as a “high-quality person” who was “like your father was president,” and John F. Kennedy as “the second-most good-looking president.”Trump also used the opportunity to mention the ballroom under construction on the White House grounds.Read full story: Usha Vance faces backlash after inviting Trump to children’s podcastThe episode drew mixed reactions on social media, with some users mocking Trump’s appearance on a children’s reading podcast and questioning his reading habits after Vance remarked, “It’s really kind of you to take the time to read.”The podcast series features public figures reading children’s books, with episodes released on YouTube by Vance.
