But considering Trump had made the same quip just days before, many on social media couldn’t help but wonder if he actually meant what he said.

“She decided she loved her children more than she loved Donald Trump. I’m very upset about this,” Trump said while speaking at the White House of Leavitt, who announced earlier this month that she’d be leaving the job. “She has to go home and spend time with her children. That does happen on occasion with some people — when they love their children, and she does.” He then congratulated her on the birth of her second child, “Vivi,” who was born in May.

Trump said in a Truth Social post after Leavitt’s announcement that she was leaving so she can “spend more time with her beautiful young children and family, a decision I totally understand and respect!”

If the joke on Monday was a one-off, most people wouldn’t read into it too deeply.

As a result, many people on social media interpreted the “joke” as a serious sign of the president’s fragile ego.