About

Donny 2 Dolls is a catchphrase and nickname coined by MSNBC anchor Lawrence O'Donnell after U.S. President Donald Trump gave a statement regarding the price of toys under his reciprocal tariffs. The President reportedly said, "Well maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more." Several internet users noted Trump's comments about children's toys in late April and early May 2025 and remarked on the nickname "Donny 2 Dolls" as it inspired memes online.

Origin

On April 30th, 2025, during a White House Cabinet meeting, President Donald Trump addressed concerns over his administration's steep tariffs on Chinese imports, which had been raised to 145 percent amid a trade war with China. According to CBS News,^[1] he stated, "Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know? And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally."

Later that evening, host of the MSNBC show The Last Word Lawrence O'Donnell critiqued President Trump's remarks, calling him "Donny Two Dolls," a nickname the newspaper Mediaite claims was inspired by mobster monikers from The Sopranos. O'Donnell highlighted the irony of a president suggesting reduced holiday gifts for children, saying, "Only Donny Two Dolls could think like that … Why didn't he mention that in the campaign?"

A clip of the segment was posted to the official MSNBC YouTube^[2] channel on April 30th, 2025, gathering over 800,000 views in two days.

Spread

Redditor /u/acceptablerose99 posted a news article about Donald Trump's "two dolls instead of 30 dolls" statement to the subreddit^[4] /r/politics on April 30th, 2025, gathering over 5,000 upvotes in two days.

Twitter / X^[3] user @DarrigoMelanie posted an image showing Donald Trump next to his "two dolls instead of 30 dolls" statement, writing, "Donald Trump went from 'I will lower costs' to 'fuck you and your kids' in 100 days." The post gathered over 7,000 likes in a day.

On May 1st, 2025, Bluesky^[5] user @carlquintanilla reposted the front page cover of the New York Post, showing a Barbie doll next to Donald Trump and text that reads, "Skimp on the Barbie," as a pun of the saying "shrimp on the barbie." The post gathered over 2,000 likes in a day.

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References