In late May 2026, a claim (archived) circulated online that U.S. President Donald Trump was selling watches that misspelled his last name as "Rump."
One X user that spread the claim wrote, "BREAKING: Trump watches are being sent to customers as 'rump' watches. It sort of makes sense though… RUMP."
A Threads (archived) user also shared the claim. Other users on Facebook (archived) and Reddit (archived) claimed a man from Rhode Island had received one such misspelled watch.
Trump was not selling "Rump" watches in May 2026. Rather, the claim circulated after the Facebook page of comedy show "The Daily Show" shared a year-old segment (archived) in May 2026 about one man who received a misspelled watch (archived) from a website that licensed the Trump name. Snopes did not find other examples of people who received misspelled watches in May 2025 or in 2026, when claims circulated online.
Tim Petit, a Rhode Island man who featured in the 2025 news report, told Snopes via text message that he received a watch reading "Rump" in mid-May 2025 and that the company he bought it from had since sent him a correctly spelled version. Petit sent photos of the misspelled watch face
The seller, which used the website GetTrumpWatches.com, was not a Trump-owned company but rather licenses the Trump name for use on its products. According to the company's website, its products were not "designed, manufactured, distributed or sold by Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization or any of their respective affiliates or principals."
Given the above, we rate the claim that Trump sold "Rump" watches in May 2026 false.
We contacted GetTrumpWatches.com to ask if the company knew of any other customers who had received misspelled watches in May 2025 or more recently and await a reply.
WJAR, a Rhode Island NBC affiliate, first reported on Petit's misspelled watch on May 13, 2025. Petit told Snopes he bought the watch around that time.
According to the outlet's report, Petit ordered a pink, silver and gold "Inauguration First Lady" watch from GetTrumpWatches.com as a gift for his wife. The watch, one of 250, featured Trump's surname and signature on the watch face.
When the watch arrived, it was missing the letter T in Trump's name and instead read "RUMP." Petit's wife, Melanie Petit, told WJAR she noticed the mistake "right away."
Petit confirmed the accuracy of WJAR's reporting to Snopes via text message on June 1, 2026. The website listed the watch he bought online for $599, and Petit said he paid $640 after tax and shipping.
He added that he believed the faulty watch was "one of one." Petit said the seller sent a replacement watch without the misspelling overnight when it learned of the mistake.
Though it was not Trump himself or any of his companies that sold the faulty watch, the president promoted the watches on the seller's website. Petit told WJAR he bought his wife's watch after hearing an advertisement on the radio that used the president's voice and was disappointed that the product he purchased did not have "the integrity of the President of the United States."
For further reading, Snopes has previously reported on the long-awaited Trump phone, another licensed product bearing the president's name.