--- title: Donald Trump Throwing Paper Towels Becomes a Viral Meme description: President Donald Trump throwing paper towels to hurricane victims in Puerto Rico inspires reactions canonical: https://time.com/4968074/donald-trump-paper-towels-puerto-rico/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-03T21:18:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:55:13.630Z og:title: The Internet Is Losing It Over Trump's Paper Towel Throwing og:description: "I play the best sports." og:url: https://time.com/4968074/donald-trump-paper-towels-puerto-rico/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc683b2e75f64f9e/6988e0577cdbacc5a8d5a503/trump-puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-09.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: Trump, San Juan, Puerto Rico - 03 Oct 2017 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Internet Is Losing It Over Trump's Paper Towel Throwing twitter:description: "I play the best sports." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc683b2e75f64f9e/6988e0577cdbacc5a8d5a503/trump-puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-09.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Threw Paper Towels to Hurricane Victims in Puerto Rico. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=49707c66-e18a-433b-b2da-685bfeeda9d3&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump Tosses Paper Towels at Crowds in Puerto Rico [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Tosses Paper Towels at Crowds in Puerto Rico](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fAc1RIaG.m3u8) (0:30)  _Published 2017-10-03. President Trump Tosses Paper Towels at Crowds in Puerto Rico_ by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Oct 3, 2017 9:18 PM UTC President Trump Tosses Paper Towels at Crowds in Puerto Rico by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Oct 3, 2017 9:18 PM UTC [President Donald Trump’s](http://time.com/4967645/donald-trump-puerto-rico-hurricane-katrina/) latest viral move is paper towel throwing. Tuesday marked President Trump’s first visit to Puerto Rico, which was ravaged by [Hurricane Maria](http://time.com/4967645/donald-trump-puerto-rico-hurricane-katrina/) two weeks ago. During a stop at Calvary Chapel in San Juan, he came face to face with some of the U.S. territory’s residents in need of relief. Perhaps drawing on his reality TV experience, he launched several rolls of paper towels into a crowd of residents, some of whom caught the supplies, some who didn’t. People were quick to capture the action shots, and it wasn’t long before it was a meme. A news editor couldn’t wait for the meme machine to go to work. > [](https://twitter.com/Kyle%5FFeldscher/status/915278425929273344) Some felt it was a distateful way to distribute supplies. > [](https://twitter.com/calebecarma/status/915279319932571649) NBA ballers were name-checked. > [](https://twitter.com/TomNamako/status/915276394246082560) > [](https://twitter.com/SOMEXlCAN/status/915287840568754176) > [](https://twitter.com/calebecarma/status/915281461435092992) Others found the scene quite dark. > [](https://twitter.com/reptarbarred/status/915291384579489792) > [](https://twitter.com/VeraMBergen/status/915280024244183040) Even Samantha Bee’s social media team weighed in. > [](https://twitter.com/FullFrontalSamB/status/915297409839792128) As of Tuesday afternoon, the Photoshop battle was just getting started, with one [user riffing](https://i.imgur.com/9bPNqij) on his use of superlatives, captioning this edit job of Trump shooting a basketball at a football goal with the line “I play the best sports.” Another chose a certain iconic [Disney moment](https://imgur.com/DpbRm7f). The President has faced [criticism](http://time.com/4960647/us-turned-its-back-on-puerto-rico/) from Ted Cruz and others for his response to Puerto Rico. The President of Oxfam America, an international organization dedicated to alleviating poverty, announced its involvement in the relief effort, saying the U.S. government was too slow to respond. ## Transcript [00:00] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ NOISE ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4968074/donald-trump-paper-towels-puerto-rico/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4968074/donald-trump-paper-towels-puerto-rico/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Threw Paper Towels to Hurricane Victims in Puerto Rico. 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