--- title: George W. Bush Clarifies Inauguration Poncho Situation description: Former President George W. Bush spoke with Ellen DeGeneres about his poncho situation at President Trump's inauguration ceremony. canonical: https://time.com/4689343/george-bush-on-poncho/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-02T21:23:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:41:35.348Z og:title: Watch George W. Bush Clear the Air About His Poncho Struggle og:description: He's fully aware he doesn't know how to wear the rain gear og:url: https://time.com/4689343/george-bush-on-poncho/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch George W. Bush Clear the Air About His Poncho Struggle twitter:description: He's fully aware he doesn't know how to wear the rain gear twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch George W. Bush Clear the Air About His Infamous Inauguration Day Poncho Struggle by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Mar 2, 2017 9:23 PM UTC by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Mar 2, 2017 9:23 PM UTC Former President [George W. Bush](http://time.com/4688206/george-w-bush-painting-book/) is fully aware that he doesn’t know how to adorn a poncho. [Ellen DeGeneres](http://time.com/4654985/ellen-degeneres-immigration-ban/) isn’t letting him forget it, either. [Bush’s](http://time.com/4683734/george-w-bush-donald-trump-russia-today/) struggle with the plastic rain gear at [President Trump’s inauguration](http://time.com/4640707/donald-trump-inauguration-speech-transcript/) quickly became an internet sensation, causing a [rush of memes](http://time.com/4641223/trump-inauguration-george-bush-reactions/) to flood the Internet. Even though Bush appeared to laugh and smile about his sartorial battle, the photos of him became one of the trademarks of Trump’s swearing-in. The [former president](http://time.com/4640219/letters-george-bush-bill-clinton-inauguration/) sat down with DeGeneres on her show to promote his [new book](http://www.bushcenter.org/exhibits-and-events/exhibits/2017/portraits-of-courage-exhibit.html#buy) _Portraits of Courage._ While the two discussed his art, the current presidency and his friendship with Michelle Obama, DeGeneres ultimately brought up the pressing issue at hand: whether or not he had ever worn a poncho. “The poncho was a problem. Have you put one on? Is that the first time?” she asked. Bush replied, “Yeah, it looks like it! That’s for sure.” > [](https://twitter.com/EllieInTheStars/status/822505817110941699) > [](https://twitter.com/CountOnVic/status/822529033661546497) > [](https://twitter.com/maxwelltani/status/822501259164995584) DeGeneres later gifted Bush with his own presidential poncho — directions included. Watch the full video below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4689343/george-bush-on-poncho/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4689343/george-bush-on-poncho/"},"headline":"Watch George W. Bush Clear the Air About His Infamous Inauguration Day Poncho Struggle","datePublished":"2017-03-02T21:23:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:41:35.348Z","description":"He's fully aware he doesn't know how to wear the rain gear","url":"https://time.com/4689343/george-bush-on-poncho/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"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/4689343/george-bush-on-poncho/","name":"Watch George W. Bush Clear the Air About His Infamous Inauguration Day Poncho Struggle"}}]}] ```