Democrats Dig Up Unflattering Trump Photos After President’s Skinny Plea
The president wants photographers to make him look “thin,” but Democrats say it’s not up to the cameras.
Democrats think photographers aren’t to blame for unflattering photos of President Donald Trump.
An X page for the Democratic Party dug up four unflattering images of Trump after he appealed to photographers to make him look “thin” in photos.
The 79-year-old president was onstage delivering remarks at a GOP retreat at the Kennedy Center on Tuesday when he noticed photographers in front of him, including Doug Mills of The New York Times, who won a Pulitzer Prize for striking images taken during the assassination attempt on Trump in 2024.
Donald Trump speaks during the House Republican Party (GOP) member retreat at the Kennedy Center on Jan. 6, 2026.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
“Pulitzer Prize! Right there. Pulitzer Prize! He got one for the bullet,” Trump said, drawing applause from the crowd.
“These are the ones that take the pictures. Make me look thin for a change, Doug,” he quipped. “You’re making me look a little bit heavy. I’m not happy about it.”
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But Democrats think there’s little photographers can do to help the president.
Not the photographers' fault https://t.co/EI8nukJYJK pic.twitter.com/oggK2CqUXd
— Democrats (@TheDemocrats) January 6, 2026
“Not the photographers’ fault,” they wrote in an X post, attaching candid images of Trump taken from less-than-flattering angles.
Trump, a high-flying socialite and TV personality before he entered the White House, has long been conscious of his public image.
Trump has repeatedly complained about press images that he considers unflattering.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
The president is not known to have much appetite for walking between holes on the course.
Mike Stobe/Getty Images
In October, he threw a Truth Social meltdown after TIME magazine put him on the cover using a photo taken from a low angle, which highlighted the drooping skin on his neck. It didn’t help that his hair practically disappeared into the sky above him.
“They ‘disappeared’ my hair, and then had something floating on top of my head that looked like a floating crown, but an extremely small one,” Trump wrote. “Really weird! I never liked taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a super bad picture, and deserves to be called out. What are they doing, and why?”
Trump has often proven himself especially animated while addressing reporters.
Pool/Getty Images
But he has also been pictured dozing off at a number of events since the start of his second term.
Andrew Harnik/Getty
The aging president is 6’ 3” and weighs 224 pounds, according to the results of his annual physical exam released last April. His BMI puts him in the overweight category, though the president’s physician Sean Barbabella has repeatedly cleared Trump as being in “excellent health.”
Trump is such a Diet Coke fan that he has a button dedicated to it on the Resolute Desk.
AP
The president is widely reported to be an enthusiastic fan of his own jokes.
Win McNamee/Win McNamee/Getty Images
Trump’s fast-food-heavy diet and love for Diet Coke are unlikely to see him shed pounds soon. Florida state senator Joe Gruters once said he saw Trump eat McDonald’s fries, a Filet-O-Fish, a Quarter Pounder, and a Big Mac all in one sitting.
As for exercise, Trump doesn’t care for much physical activity outside of the golf course.
A number of photographers have come increasingly under fire for capturing snaps of the president from unflattering lower angles.
AFP via Getty Images
“I just don’t like it. It’s boring,” Trump told The Wall Street Journal about his opinion of exercise. “To walk on a treadmill or run on a treadmill for hours and hours like some people do, that’s not for me.”
The White House did not immediately return a request for comment about the Democratic Party’s post.
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