Donald Trump Accidentally Confirms He's So Self-Conscious About His Weight At 2024 Debate
The first presidential debate of 2024, between President Joe Biden and Former President Donald Trump — the presumed candidates for their respective parties come November — took place on June 27 on CNN and, by all accounts, it was an underwhelming affair. Neither Biden nor Trump made a significant impression on those watching at home, although the controversial politician seemed to perform slightly better according to certain quarters. The current commander-in-chief was widely criticized for mumbling and appearing confused when trying to answer relatively simple questions while his opponent stuck to the usual Trumpian playbook by making typically wild and easily disproven claims about how impressive his own White House tenure was.
However, Biden seemed to be taking a page out of his opponent's book at one point (or maybe the president was getting his own back following Trump's immature debate day dig against Biden, which was as low-brow as it gets) with a decidedly personal jab about the former "Apprentice" host's weight. During an increasingly tedious back and forth about their respective golf skills, Biden quipped that he'd be glad to play against Trump as long as he promised to lug his own equipment around, sarcastically asking, "Can you do it?" (via X, formerly known as Twitter).
Naturally, the famously thin-skinned Republican wasn't best pleased, especially since Biden also called him out earlier in their argument for supposedly lying about his weight and height on multiple occasions, with a visibly irritated Trump downplaying it as fake news. In response to Biden's continued poking, Trump declared, "Let's not act like children" to which the president replied simply: "You are a child."
Donald Trump has a history of making weight-based comments
Those wondering whether there will be another presidential debate can look forward to seeing Donald Trump and Joe Biden on stage together again in September, when the two face off on ABC News. But in the meantime, the discourse rages on with social media denizens taking issue, in particular, with how off-color the current president's remarks about his competitor's weight were. As one X user pointed out, "It was pretty interesting watching some folks saying he was shouting over Biden. There was only one point where Trump leaned off the rails a bit, and that was when Biden insulted [Trump's] weight and bragged about his golf game. Beyond that, he could have done more, but didn't." Another argued, "Biden brought up his weight, which is irrelevant."
The former president is notorious for criticizing women, in particular, for being overweight in his eyes. In fact, his opponent for the 2016 presidency, Hillary Clinton, brought it up during one of their heated debates by recalling, "He called this woman Miss Piggy," (via NPR). Trump attempted to defend himself during a subsequent appearance on "Fox and Friends" but ended up digging a bigger hole by reiterating that the Miss America winner in question, Alicia Machado, had indeed got bigger which, according to the real estate magnate, caused major hassle behind the scenes.
He also infamously referred to "a 400-pound hacker" when discussing the DNC hack and made fun of a rally attendee by advising the man to lose weight after wrongfully assuming he was a dissenter.
Donald Trump's own weight has come into question several times
Naturally, Donald Trump's reaction to Joe Biden's comments about his golfing ability and the alleged fallacies in his health reports hit a nerve judging by the former president's visible scowl onstage at the first debate. Although Trump has a questionable reputation on the golf course, he's long maintained his proficiency alongside professing that he's fit as a fiddle, frequently pulling out doctors' notes to prove his point. When the controversial politician was booked in Atlanta in 2023, social media sleuths wasted no time noting the differences in Trump's reported height and weight from a prior arrest.
Adult film star Stormy Daniels, whom he allegedly had an affair with, attempted to set the record straight on X by joking in response, "Mmmkay! And I'm 110lbs and a virgin!" She added, "I'm not a scale or a doctor but I have spent some time beneath 215lb men and Tiny was not one of them." The discrepancy was subsequently cleared up when an adviser clarified that he'd supplied his own weight and measurements — 6'3" and 215 pounds — "to speed up the process," (via X). Suffice it to say that despite his own well-established weight obsession, the former president didn't appreciate Biden's comments.