Stop Body Shaming Donald Trump

River Irons
6 min readAug 27, 2023
Venus and Cupid Warming Themselves, by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640)

The use of Donald Trump’s bodily characteristics to reinforce and indulge in feelings of disgust toward him is nothing new. But as he reported for booking at Fulton County Jail, social media exploded with speculation about whether his processing would finally reveal his accurate height and weight.

Would Trump still be able to present himself as taller and thinner than he really was, as he presumably had in the past? Or would officials force him to give us his real numbers?

After his processing, the Washington Post published a whole article about the height and weight documented at Trump’s booking, reinforcing the idea that the former president’s fatness was indeed worthy of national attention and perhaps the most important fact of the day.

The internet exploded with memes about what 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds would–or should–look like. Men rushed to post their heights and weights as proof that Trump lied.

“I’m 5-foot-10 and 215 pounds, but it’s all muscle,” one Facebook user wrote, adding a qualifier lest anyone make assumptions about his body composition.

Many posts compared Trump’s body to those of athletes that reported the same measurements.

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River Irons

I grew up in a White Supremacist cult. I escaped. I still search for freedom from oppressive constructs. Queer. Digital Artist, Storyteller.