Trump’s Big, Fat Beef with the Media
(Spoiler: it's not about crowd sizes, poll numbers, or election results.)
Let’s address the elephant in the room here: Donald Trump is… well-fed. Not “compared to most people in politics” well-fed. Not “the camera adds ten pounds” well-fed. Not even “everyone loses muscle tone when they age” well-fed. Just comfortably, unmistakably corpulent.
That extra padding apparently doesn’t bother POTUS enough to actually do something about it—unless you count ritually asking photographers to “make him look thin.”
Yes, he does that. Out loud. On camera. Repeatedly. Like a man who has confused the laws of optics with Michelin-star customer service.
BASICALLY TRUMP: “Maybe just hold the camera a tiny bit higher. To the right a touch—no, not that much. Perfect. Right there. Now, do you think you could make me look a few inches taller and a little more likable?”
This week’s “news” involved Trump telling photographers, “Make me look thin for once—you’re making me look a bit heavy,” triggering a viral meltdown in which the internet reacted as if he’d just invented vanity. Commentators rushed to diagnose narcissism. McDonald’s jokes poured out like Diet Coke from a private golden fountain. Fresh memes were minted.
Here’s the thing: This isn’t a one-off; it’s a classic, long-running bit.
Trump has complained about unflattering photos for years. He’s attacked low camera angles. He’s accused photographers of sabotage. He’s publicly feuded with TIME magazine over what he described as a floating, undersized crown of hair, apparently unaffiliated with the rest of his head. When he wore a reflective orange vest during a rally to mock Biden’s “garbage” comment, he jovially admitted he’d originally said an immediate, visceral no way to the idea… until his team told him it was slimming. (“They got me!” he wisecracked. “When they said I looked thinner, I said, ‘in that case, I’ll wear it!’ I may never wear my blue jacket again.”) He wasn’t ashamed—he was downright delighted by his own egotism. The joke worked because it was aggressively on brand.
Trump doesn’t want to lose weight. He wants the camera to stop being so negative and accept some responsibility.
It literally doesn’t get more Trump than that.
Every public figure manages their image. Politicians stand behind podiums for a reason. They wear dark suits. They avoid side lighting. They demand flattering angles. They just outsource the request to staff and pretend it’s about “framing.”
Trump skips that step. He doesn’t euphemize. He doesn’t pretend. He just says the thing everyone else is thinking: Make me look good. Ideally, better than I look in real life. If you look amazing, you are amazing. Only losers leave that to chance.
It’s not the vanity that’s shocking. It’s the honesty about the vanity.
The press treats this like a revelation, as if Trump demanding a digital upgrade is evidence of some newly discovered pathology. A man who has spent a decade accusing the media of distortion now believes the camera is working against him? Stop the presses. Alert the psychological community. Convene a panel.
What critics keep missing is that Trump isn’t embarrassed by how he looks—he’s annoyed by the intermediary. Why choose shame when blame is an option?
This is actually the same worldview Trump applies to pretty much everything. If the photo is unattractive, the angle was rigged. If the poll looks bad, it’s fake. If the windmill detracts from the beautiful landscape, it’s a loser. Trump doesn’t argue with outcomes—he scripts them. Reality isn’t something to accept; it’s something to browbeat until it behaves.
This wasn’t a meltdown. It wasn’t a mistake. It wasn’t even insecurity. It was Trump doing what he does best: encountering an unflattering truth and immediately pointing fingers.
The comic fuel of this story isn’t Trump’s desire to look good. It’s that he refuses to pretend he doesn’t want to—and has the audacity to call out the media that will happily jump at any opportunity to make him look as old, fat, and unattractive as possible.
In a culture built entirely on filters, lighting tricks, cropped photos, and pharmaceutical miracles, Trump’s real offense is still the same as it’s always been: He says the quiet part out loud—then watches everyone else call it news.
I hope everyone enjoyed this humorous, lighthearted palate cleanse after yesterday’s sobering ICE post. (I don’t know about y’all, but I needed it.) LMK how you voted in the comments. :)
It’s fantastic that Trump can get the media to talk about his vanity and weight with all that’s happening in the world right now. He trolls them so hard, they haven’t a clue. And it is glorious to watch. Not one media outlet understands this: ignoring Trump is far more bothersome to him than saying negative crap. He truly embodies the adage of “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
I tell my friends and family taking photos to 'make me look thin' all the time. I'm not delusional about reality, I'm kidding, but I also know there are better angles. Have we all not learned to take those photos from above to avoid that 'dbl chin look'?? and instead of saying 'cheese' I typically say 'suck in' . .. lol. What I love is that he's so real. He actually acts like a normal person. . . .