--- title: Michael Moore on Meeting Donald Trump description: Michael Moore told the story of an encounter he had with Donald Trump back in 1998 — and the impression it left on him. canonical: https://time.com/4636227/michael-moore-donald-trump-meeting/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-17T15:55:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:36.274Z og:title: Michael Moore Shares the Telling Story of Meeting Donald Trump og:description: "People think he’s stupid — he’s not stupid at all' og:url: https://time.com/4636227/michael-moore-donald-trump-meeting/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt746ef57e7cd15330/6988b5b88fd2eeb0ef35567c/michael-moore.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: michael-moore og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Michael Moore Shares the Telling Story of Meeting Donald Trump twitter:description: "People think he’s stupid — he’s not stupid at all' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt746ef57e7cd15330/6988b5b88fd2eeb0ef35567c/michael-moore.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Michael Moore Tells the Story of Meeting Donald Trump: 'People Think He’s Stupid — He’s Not Stupid At All' ## Video: TIME 2016 Person of the Year: Donald Trump [Watch (HLS stream): TIME 2016 Person of the Year: Donald Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Q0tBuF3M.m3u8) (4:12)  _Published 2016-12-07. The 2016 Person of the Year is Donald Trump, the President of the divided states of America._  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jan 17, 2017 3:55 PM UTC  Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore attends the 20th Annual Webby Awards at Cipriani Wall Street on May 16, 2016 in New York City. Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore attends the 20th Annual Webby Awards at Cipriani Wall Street on May 16, 2016 in New York City.Gary Gershoff/WireImage  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jan 17, 2017 3:55 PM UTC [Michael Moore](http://time.com/4602074/michael-moore-donald-trump-is-gonna-get-us-killed/) apparently distinctly remembers the first time he met [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4636142/donald-trump-inauguration-polls-approval-ratings/). During a recent interview with [_Variety_](http://variety.com/2017/film/news/michael-moore-donald-trump-democrats-election-1201960466/), the documentary filmmaker told the story of an encounter he had with the [president elect](http://time.com/4635411/democrats-boycotting-donald-trumps-inauguration/) back in 1998 — and the impression it left on him. --- > “” --- However, Moore went on to reveal that when he started thinking back to the meeting during Trump’s campaign, he had a revelation about it. --- > “” --- Read more at [Variety.com](http://variety.com/2017/film/news/michael-moore-donald-trump-democrats-election-1201960466/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4636227/michael-moore-donald-trump-meeting/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4636227/michael-moore-donald-trump-meeting/"},"headline":"Michael Moore Tells the Story of Meeting Donald Trump: 'People Think He’s Stupid — He’s Not Stupid At All'","datePublished":"2017-01-17T15:55:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:36.274Z","description":"\"He’s not stupid at all\"","url":"https://time.com/4636227/michael-moore-donald-trump-meeting/","keywords":["Newsfeed","politics","celebrities","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt746ef57e7cd15330/6988b5b88fd2eeb0ef35567c/michael-moore.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt746ef57e7cd15330/6988b5b88fd2eeb0ef35567c/michael-moore.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"michael-moore","caption":"Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore attends the 20th Annual Webby Awards at Cipriani Wall Street on May 16, 2016 in New York City.","creditText":"Gary Gershoff/WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4636227/michael-moore-donald-trump-meeting/","name":"Michael Moore Tells the Story of Meeting Donald Trump: 'People Think He’s Stupid — He’s Not Stupid At All'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME 2016 Person of the Year: Donald Trump","description":"The 2016 Person of the Year is Donald Trump, the President of the divided states of America.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Q0tBuF3M/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-12-07T12:09:51.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Q0tBuF3M.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4636227/michael-moore-donald-trump-meeting/","duration":"PT4M12S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4636227/michael-moore-donald-trump-meeting/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```