We Wanted To See Trump Without His Disastrous Tan, So We Gave Him His Real Skin Tone Back

Donald Trump is nothing if not a man of habit. Once he finds something he likes, he sticks with it, be it Diet Coke, long ties, or his famous hairstyle. Then there's his, um, unique complexion; though he claims his toasty tone is just a result of poor lighting, there's evidence Trump uses makeup to enhance his looks. The controversial candidate may be trying to project an image of glowing health to counter any concerns about his age, but it doesn't have the effect he's hoping for. Many times, Trump's tan fails are painfully obvious, with clear pale spaces around his eyes, hairline, and other spots. Other times, the entire shade is so dark or orange-y as to be distracting. In a presidential race featuring candidates calling each other out for insincerity or all-out lying, the optics don't look good when one of them is hiding his true appearance.

We couldn't help wondering what Trump might look like if he ditched the bronzer and went more natural. For help, we turned to one of our brilliant Static Media photo editors and asked them to do a tweak of his skin tone. The results were striking — and prove that it's sometimes best to go au naturel.

Through some clever photo editing, we gave Donald Trump Ronald McDonald hair in honor of his recent stint serving fries to fans in an orchestrated campaign stunt. (This, plus an outbreak of E. coli cases linked to Quarter Pounders in 10 states, made this a week McDonald's would probably like to forget.) Okay, we admit the results weren't what you'd call flattering. Changing up his skin tone, on the other hand, made a huge difference. Removing the sallow brown hue and replacing it with a more natural tone makes Trump look younger and more fit. So much for the "healthy tan" cliché! The off-putting white areas around his eyes and mouth magically disappear. Plus, the pinker hue complements his blue eyes and platinum hair and makes his favored navy suit look even better. (Going by the old seasonal-color-palette trend, Trump appears to be a winter.)

There have been times when Trump has gone makeup-free and looked different from his usual orange self. On those rare occasions, he's gotten similar compliments about looking less overdone. Maybe if he were to lighten up on the foundation or ditch it altogether, he'd be more successful at convincing voters he's young enough to earn a second term. At the very least, he'd give his opponents less fodder for teasing. Vice presidential candidate Tim Walz got in a good zinger at the divisive candidate at a rally on October 22 (via X, formerly Twitter). "Being at McDonald's, he looks much more like Ronald McDonald — tell me you don't see this from a mile away," Walz quipped. "And Ronald wears less makeup!"